By IANS,
New Delhi : Justice (retd) G.T. Nanavati, who headed an inquiry panel that has concluded that the Godhra train burning tragedy was pre-planned, has stoutly defended the probe findings, and said he believed they were accurate.
“Unless I was satisfied, I would not have given the report. We have no doubt about what we have written,” Nanavati told a TV news channel in his first public comments after presenting the report to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar earlier this week.
The report was tabled in the state assembly Thursday.
Asked to comment on the Congress party’s criticism of the report as it gave Modi a clean chit, Nanavati replied: “Everyone is entitled to express their opinion. I have nothing to say about it.”
Asked why did he prepare his report in two parts, one on the train burning and the other on the communal riots that followed, Nanavati said: “It is for the people to draw whatever inferences they want to. We thought it was a convenient thing to do, to present it in two parts.”
When it was pointed out that the report contradicted a previous one on the train burning by Justice (retd) U.C. Banerjee, Nanavati replied: “I don’t want to comment about this.”
As many as 59 people were killed in the gruesome tragedy at Godhra, 140 km from Ahmedabad, on the morning of Feb 27, 2002. The deaths and the fire triggered one of the fiercest communal violence in the state in recent times.