New Delhi: Nearly 14 years after the 2002 Godhra train carnage, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the case, Farooq Mohammed Bhana. The train carnage, in which 59 kar sevaks were killed, had led to widespread rioting in parts of Gujarat.
ATS officials said Bhana, who was on the run for almost 14 years, was one of the main conspirators behind the move to burn the train at Godhra station on February 27, 2002.Bhana, officials said, was a corporator at the time and to avoid arrest had shifted base to Mumbai, where he started working as a property broker.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Farooq Mohammed Bhana, 55, at a toll plaza near Kalol town. The Gujarat ATS made the arrest, acting on a specific tip-off, as Bhana was going from Mumbai to Godhra on Wednesday morning to meet his son there.
“Being one of the main conspirators in the Godhra carnage, Bhana has been charged in the FIR with conspiracy to put the S-6 coach on fire during a meeting with other accused at the Aman Guest House near Godhra railway station,” a senior police official said.
