Godhra train attack accused arrested in Gujarat after 14 years

A man accused of plotting the attack on the Sabarmati Express train that killed 59 people in Gujarat’s Godhra in February 2002 has been arrested.

On the run for 14 years, the key accused in the 2002 Godhra train carnage, in which 59 kar sevaks were killed, was arrested by the Gujarat Police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday.

File photo of charred Sabarmati Express at Godhra station. (PTI)

The train carnage had triggered widespread riots in the state.

An ATS official said that Farooq Mohammad Bhana was one of the key accused, who hatched the conspiracy to burn the train at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002.

According to the ATS officials, Bhana was a corporator in Godhra when the incident took place. To evade arrest, he then moved to Mumbai where he became a property broker.

“Based on a tip-off, we nabbed Bhana at a toll plaza near Kalol town of Panchmahal district when he was going to Godhra from Mumbai today. He was the key conspirator of Godhra carnage,” an ATS official said.

In the FIR, Bhana was charged with conspiracy to put the S-6 coach on fire during a meeting with others accused at the Aman Guest House near Godhra Railway Station.

As many as 59 people had lost their lives when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was torched.The incident had triggered large scale riots in the state in which around 1,000 people were killed.