Even as the contentious issue of slapping POTA on the accused in the Sabarmati Express carnage case of February 27, 2002 appear to have been resolved, little has changed on ground zero. The town will observe the seventh anniversary of the gory incident, which had left 59 people dead, on Friday.

Seventeen of the 18 ‘conspirators’, who were declared absconders by the Gujarat Police in 2002, continue to be at large, while the 18th man, Hussain Lalika, died a natural death.

Godhra Superintendent of police J R Mothalia, who had been involved in the train carnage probe from day one, shrugged off questions about the police’s inability to track down the absconders.

He said he could not comment on the issue as the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) is re-investigating the case.

“In 2002, they (police) had arrested whomever they wanted. Some were declared ‘absconding conspirators’. The Gujarat Police will, however, never even try to trace them because arresting them without strong grounds will only make the prosecution case weak,” said Saeed Umarji, son of Hussain Ibrahim Umarji alias Maulana, the prime accused in the case, .

Maulana, along with 99 others, is presently lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was invoked in the case on March 2, 2002.

After five days, the police added conspiracy charges [IPC section 120 (b)] on March 7, 2002.

POTA was revoked from the case on March 25, 2002, but was slapped again on the 134 accused on February 5, 2003.

... contd.