Baroda, Feb. 13: In a startling revelation, the special investigation team probing the Godhra carnage has found links between underworld dons and one of the key conspirators, Maulana Hussain Umarji, who was arrested a week ago from Godhra.
Reliable sources within the team told The Asian Age that during the week-long interrogation the SIT members had found a strong link between the Maulana and some of the "well-known" people in the underworld. Not only that, these underworld dons had reportedly sent huge amounts of money to carry out the "Sabarmati Express Operation" at Godhra railway station on February 27 last year.
"We have already extracted some of the most crucial links during the Maulana’s interrogation, which concluded today. As suspected, Maulana has emerged as a crucial link between the underworld and members of the core group formed to torch the S-6 bogie of the Sabarmati Express. We wanted to interrogate him to extract more details about some of the notorious criminals involved in the crime, who are still at large," said a member of the investigation team who sought anonymity.
The SIT members have obtained a detailed list of telephone calls (including those made from landlines and cellular mobile) made by Maulana before and after the carnage. "After studying the printouts of the calls we were shocked to know that some of the calls were made by Maulana to ‘well-known’ people in the underworld. We would not like to divulge much information about their role as it would hamper the investigation."
The official added: "Though initially the carnage seemed like an accident or a handy job done by some local criminals, with each day of investigation we have come to know that it was a master plan to shake the state and country. While questioning Maulana we discovered that through his contacts he had obtained a large amount of money from foreign countries to carry out this operation."
Noticeably, the railway court denied further remand of Maulana Umarji.
Representing the government, advocate J.M. Panchal had requested more time to question Maulana further, but the court refused this, saying that the SIT had already interrogated him (Maulana) for seven days. Speaking to The Asian Age, Mr Panchal said, "The three main reasons mentioned for further remand application includes Maulana’s link with some of the key accused hiding in Maharashtra, telephone calls made to some of the hardcore criminals and simultaneous interrogation of Haji Bilal and Maulana."
The railway judge, in his order, however maintained that "the investigating agencies can always ask questions (even) in judicial custody." The SIT had obtained five days’ remand after Maulana’s arrest and an application for two more days was accepted on February 11.
In case a further period of interrogation is allowed, the SIT wants to take Maulana to Mumbai. "We have arrested eight core group members and as many as 12 are still at large. We wanted to take Maulana to Mumbai to identify some of the core group members."
Even more important, in their eyes, is the simultaneous interrogation of Haji Bilal Sujela and Maulana. "As disclosed earlier, Bilal and Maulana were among the think tanks of the team which masterminded the plan. We wanted to carry out their simultaneous interrogation to find out some discrepancies during their separate interrogation," said the official.
GRP officials had arrested Bilal in the last week of March last year for his involvement in Godhra carnage. Bilal, according to officials, had also restrained the fire tenders which were rushing to douse the fire in the S-6 bogie of the Sabarmati Express.
Bureau Report
