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Fernandes doesn't rule out external hand in Godhra mayhem

On the alleged delay in army deployment, he said, "The fact is the army came in at the very right time," and termed the raging controversy on the issue as 'needless'.

The lack of adequate police force in Ahmedabad and other places were other factors responsible for the large-scale violence, Fernandes told reporters in Ahmedabad.

Three columns of the army had been sent to Gujarat as per the demand of the state government, he said adding they would remain in Gujarat till normalcy returned to the state and the Centre would provide more forces, if necessary. .

Earlier, speaking to reporters in Surat after his three-hour visit to the trouble-torn areas of the diamond city, Fernandes suggested imposition of hefty penalties on villages, in an attempt to check the spread of communal violence in interior areas of Gujarat.

Later, talking to PTI in Baroda at the end of his day-long visit to Mehsana, Surat and Baroda, the defence minister appreciated the Baroda police for detecting a huge stock of dynamite from a religious place in Koyali village on the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General (anti-terrorist cell) Vipul Vijay told newspersons in Godhra that the police has not ruled out the possibility of the ISI's involvement in the attack but refused to give details.

Vijay said investigations had showed that Mohammed Hussain Kalota, a local Congress leader and key suspect in the massacre, was present at Godhra railway station on Wednesday morning during the attack and was directing the mob to target the train carrying scores of 'Ram sevaks' from Ayodhya.

In fact, Pradip Thakor, a fireman of the Godhra municipal council, has told PTI that Bilal Haji had prevented him and his fire extinguisher from going to the station for putting out the blaze on the train.

Bilal Haji, who is absconding, has three to four fictitious passports and links with underworld don Abdul Latif, who was killed in a police encounter in Ahmedabad a few years ago, Vijay said.

He also said that the two councillors arrested so far were involved in cases of murder, robbery, communal riots in the past and that a detained businessman was their financier.

Meanwhile, Panchmahal District Collector Jayanthi Ravi and DSP Raju Bhargav told PTI that the situation in Godhra was well under control and no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the town or other parts of the district.

PTI

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