Will senior cop be called as witness?

On Tuesday,following demands by the Defence to clarify whether the Prosecution wants to examine Bhargava as a witness or not,the Assistant Special Public Prosecutor stated that they will make a statement in this regard on April 15.

Bhargava was posted as the Panchmahals Superintendent of Police when 59 passengers in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express were burnt to death near the Godhra railway station on February 27,2002.

Bhargava was present at the scene of crime from about 8.15 am that day. The then investigating officers have recorded his statement as a witness.

Specially appointed Trial Judge P R Patel is holding the trial of the case and the court has completed examining all the public witnesses.

As per the norms followed in criminal trials,the prosecution examines public witnesses first and then examines the investigation-related police officers like the Investigating Officer and others who have recorded the statements of the witnesses.

If the prosecution has not summoned any witness and the police officer recording the statement has been summoned,the witness is deemed dropped. In the Godhra train carnage case,Deputy SP K C Bawa had recorded the statement of Bhargava as witness during the investigation. So far,the prosecution has not demanded to summon Bhargava as a witness,but Bawa has been summoned and is expected to appear before the trial court on April 15 as a prosecution witness.

On Tuesday,the Defence demanded a clarification from the Prosecution whether they want to examine Bhargava as a witness. To this,Assistant Special Public Prosecutor N N Prajapati said that they will make a statement on this on April 15.

Prajapati added: “We’ll consult Special Public Prosecutor J M Panchal and accordingly decide on the issue as per his advice.”

BHARGAVA’S STATEMENT

In his statement before the investigating officers of the case and the Nanavati-Mehta Commission,Bhargava had stated that he had reached the Godhra railway station around 8.15 am on February 27,2002.

Among other things,Bhargava has said that while he was near the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express,he had seen Mohammed Hussain Kalota and Haji Bilal,the then president and Municipal Councillor of Godhra Municipality respectively,at the spot. As the passengers of Sabarmati Express became agitated on seeing them there,Bhargava asked them to leave. He said the two were standing alone and there was no crowd near them.

Bhargava has further said that he did ‘not notice the two trying to stop the fire fighters which were on their way to extinguish the fire.

Kalota and Bilal have been accused of instigating the mob and preventing fire fighters from reaching the train to douse the blaze.