Patna: Refusing to buy Nitish Kumar's argument absolving himself of the Godhra tragedy, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday accused him of closing the Railways' probe in the train burning incident to suit the interest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. "Nitish as Railway Minister had closed inquiry into the Sabarmati train burning incident to suit interest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. This had triggered riots," Prasad, who succeeded Kumar as Railway Minister in UPA-I, told reporters in Patna.
"Rail se Godhra ka pura khel suru huan (the entire game of Godhra begun from Railway)," Prasad said, refusing to give clean chit to Kumar in the episode. "He (Kumar) cannot absolve himself from the Godhra incident merely by saying that Railway looks into safety and not law and order problem," Prasad said.
"Had Nitish got a sincere probe done into the Godhra train burning incident, the matter would not have escalated to this level," he said. "Since the probe was closed by Nitish Kumar, I had to reopen it by ordering a comprehensive inquiry into Sabarmati Express incident when I became Railway minister," Prasad said.
"He (Nitish) is party to Gujarat riots by keeping silent over train burning incident," Prasad, an arch-rival of the Bihar Chief Minister, said. "2002 (when Gujarat riots took place) was the real test of his (Nitish) secularism in which he miserably failed," the RJD chief said, adding, "had he been secular in true sense he should have quit
10:14 AM, Apr 18, 2013
Mumbai: Shiv Sena on Wednesday asked the BJP leadership to clear its stand on the issue of its prime ministerial candidate and demanded that a meeting of the NDA be convened soon. The BJP ally, however, gave a clean chit to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi over the Gujarat riots, but said that by declaring someone's candidature, allies, who have been with BJP faithfully for so many years will go away,...
02:55 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: There is a new low in the ties between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) as the two parties have taken on each other over the Sabarmati tragedy in Godhra in 2002. BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi on Monday pointed out that it was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was the rail minister during the Sabarmati tragedy of 2002. "There is no one in the...
01:52 PM, Apr 16, 2013
JD(U) leader Sabir Ali said Nitish Kumar was railway minister during Sabarmati tragedy, however, Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' should be followed. So, it was not needed for Nitish to react, PM had said it all. ...
07:01 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Ahmedabad: A three-member high-powered committee which probed a failed jail break bid in Sabarmati Central Jail by digging a tunnel, submitted its report to the Gujarat Home Department on Friday, a top official said. "A report has been submitted by the committee on the tunnel digging case," Principal Home Secretary SK Nanda told PTI. "Though I have not gone through the report, the probe focused on negligence of prison authorities,...
10:19 PM, Apr 12, 2013
The Deputy Superintendent of the Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat was suspended on Wednesday after a jail break attempt by inmates. Jail authorities on Monday had discovered an 18-feet long tunnel in the prison. ...
04:44 PM, Feb 13, 2013
Authorities have discovered an 18-feet long tunnel inside the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad where 14 of Ahmedabad serial blast accused are presently lodged. ...
12:33 PM, Feb 11, 2013
London: A letter written by Mahatma Gandhi in 1922 from Sabarmati jail to Rabindranath Tagore's eldest brother Dwijendranath on Wednesday fetched 49,250 pounds, over seven times its pre-sale estimate, at a Sotheby's auction in London. After being lodged in the jail in Ahmedabad, Gandhi wrote the autographed letter to Dwijendranath rejoicing that his incarceration had come at a time when he felt fully prepared and expressing joy that "India's wonderful...
10:25 PM, Dec 12, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to direct a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against spiritual leader Asaram Bapu. This pertains to the death case of two boys, Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela, who were found dead in his Sabarmati ashram in the year 2008. The Gujarat CID had filed a chargesheet of culpable homicide against seven sadhaks of Asaram Bapu. But that had been struck down by the...
11:39 AM, Nov 09, 2012
Ahmedabad: A judicial commission probing mysterious death of two boys at Asaram Bapu Ashram in Sabarmati on Monday rejected the godman's plea for recording his statement at the Ashram. "The demand and suggestions put forward by Asaram cannot be accepted as it seems just another ploy to delay his appearance before the commission to depose," Justice (retd) DK Trivedi Commission said while rejecting the plea of the controversial spiritual guru....
11:35 PM, Oct 29, 2012
Ahmedabad: National Commission for Minorities has summoned some former and serving Gujarat IPS officers in connection with the alleged destruction of crucial records pertaining to the 2002 Godhra riots cases. The Commission has directed IPS officers Sanjiv Bhatt (now suspended), Rahul Sharma and former State Intelligence Bureau Chief RB Sreekumar to appear before it in this regard. "I shall be deposing before the NCM on March 12. We have been...
11:38 PM, Mar 10, 2012
London: A statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been installed at the 'Parc de L'Etoile' in the City of Strasbourg in France. The statue, gifted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) to the city of Strasbourg, stands on a pedestal prepared by the city - in which are embedded four urns containing soil brought from Porbandar, Rajkot, Pieter Maritzburg in South Africa and Sabarmati, venues associated with important events...
05:42 PM, Oct 06, 2011
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's key rival, senior Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela broke his counter-fast on Tuesday. Leaders from the State Congress sat on a fast from Saturday to counter Modi's programme and to promote "non-violence". Vaghela launched his fast at Sabarmati Asharam on Saturday, which was more or less been low profile with senior Congress leaders abstaining from the event. They called Modi's agitation a five-star fast...
10:19 AM, Sep 20, 2011
New Delhi: Gujarat Congress leaders Shankarsinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhvadia on Saturday began their fast as a counter to Chief Minister Narendra Modi's three-day fast, calling it a Satyagraha. "What is the need for Modi to spend taxpayers' money to hold a lavish fast? He could have held his fast at the CM's residence as well. The Modi government is corrupt, and is facing many corruption allegations," Modhwadia said. GPCC...
10:33 AM, Sep 17, 2011
Ahmedabad: Unlike the hot and humid Ram Lila Maidan, the big, cool hall at the Gujarat convention centre is the spot where Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be sweating it out for three full days. Luxury seating arrangements and every other comfort that you can think of will be here. After all it is 'Gujarat's Lion' who is on a fast. And even before the lion could roar, the...
09:59 AM, Sep 16, 2011
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Friday appointed a Special Judge to conduct the trial of an accused in the 2002 Godhra train burning case who was arrested after the judgement in the matter was pronounced. Judge CR Thakkar will conduct the trial of Ibrahim Chunga, who was arrested on March 2, a day after the Special Court here pronounced the verdict awarding death sentence to 11 accused and life...
09:38 PM, Jun 10, 2011
New Delhi: A Delhi court has asked the officer in-charge of the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad to appear before it to explain non-production of the 11 accused in 2008 serial blast cases here for framing of charges against them. Additional Sessions Judge Santosh Snehi Mann issued the summons after the jail superintendent failed to produce the accused despite issuance of production warrants against them. "The court is constrained to...
05:53 PM, Mar 25, 2011
Ahmedabad: A week after the 31 accused were held guilty of conspiring and setting the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express on fire in Feburary 2002 and killing 59 people, mainly kar sewaks, the special court in Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Jail on Tuesday handed the death penalty to 11, while 20 other convicts were sentenced to life. The key conspirators given the death penalty include Razzak Kurkur, the owner of the Aman...
08:54 PM, Mar 01, 2011
New Delhi: A Sessions Court at the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad on Tuesday awarded death sentence to 11 people and life term to 20 others. The sentence was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge PR Patel, who had on February 22 convicted 31 people of criminal conspiracy in the Sabarmati Express train burning case. Terming the case as as "rarest of rare" Justice Patel awarded capital punishment to Bilal Ismail...
11:20 AM, Mar 01, 2011
Ahmedabad: A special court trying the Godhra train burning case is likely to pronounce on Tuesday the quantum of punishment for the 31 convicts. Designated judge PR Patel hearing the case inside the Sabarmati Central Jail here would pronounce the quantum of punishment to those who were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and murder. The prosecution has sought death sentence for all the 31 convicts saying that it was a...
10:53 PM, Feb 28, 2011
