Like all 141 accused in the train burning case, Paanwala was booked under POTA. Speaking from Karachi, he said: “I had nothing to do with the train burning incident. I am being hunted for no reason. The police at that time were making anybody forcibly say anything in an affidavit. I did not have any other way (except run away).”

When a permanent arrest warrant was issued against him in 2004, Paanwala decided to flee to Pakistan. “I moved around the country, often begging on the streets of different cities. Then in 2005, I decided to go to Pakistan,” he said.

The Gujarat police suspected that Paanwala fled to Pakistan by going to Afghanistan and then crossed over. But Paanwala had a different version. “I went to Delhi, lived there for 15 days, took a visa and went to Pakistan. I crossed the border at Attari by train. Check the records there and you will find my name,” he said.

Ibrahim, a small-time trader, claimed he, too, took the same route. “Which coach have I burnt? I have done nothing. My enemies trapped me in a false affidavit,” he said.

Ibrahim said he went to Pakistan on an Indian passport visa-stamped by the Pakistani consulate in Delhi in August 2004. Both Paanwala and Ibrahim claimed they knew four other Godhra accused were in Karachi but pleaded ignorance on their whereabouts.

In Karachi, they said, life had been tough. In an irony of sorts, Paanwala now works as a labour in a timber yard and Ibrahim sells gutkha.

... contd.