| The minister ordered the probe while replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Railway Budget, which was passed on Wednesday. |
| The committee would probe whether the blaze was caused by a short-circuit or some inflammable material, he said. |
| Reading out a May 17, 2002 report of the forensic science laboratory of Gujarat, the minister said there was clear evidence that the fire had been caused by inflammable material kept inside the compartment. |
| Charging that the findings of the forensic lab were kept under wraps by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat, he said there would be no cover up and all those found guilty would be punished. |
| "We will fix responsibility against erring officials and the guilty will be punished," the minister remarked. |
| Prasad also took on his political rival and former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar saying by not setting up a departmental probe, he was equally to blame in the conspiracy. |
| As per the forensics report "no inflammable material was thrown on the compartment of the Sabarmati Express from outside. The only damage done to the coach was by stone-throwing." |
| "By taking into consideration the fact that no affect of the fire was found on the bottom side of the coach and also the burning pattern, a conclusion can be drawn that no inflammable fluid had been thrown inside from outside the coach," the report said. |
| "Going by the burning pattern inside the coach, its degree and depth, the fire appears to have spread inside the coach rapidly from eastern side to western side. Also it appears that all the windows of the coach were closed during the time of the fire," the four-page report said. |
| The minister said the terms of reference for the probe panel were framed in such a manner that it was "already assumed that the coach was set on fire from outside." |
| Within hours of prasad ordering the inquiry, the NDA hit back at the railway minister accusing him of "politicising" the Godhra carnage issue by ordering a departmental inquiry into the incident to "create suspicion in the minds of a particular section of society." |
| Kumar and Digvijay Singh (who was minister of state for railways) denied any conspiracy charges. According to Kumar, the Godhra incident was probed by the commissioner (railway safety), "which is a statutory requirement." |
| "The state police set aside for railway matters is empowered to look into crimes related to railway property. In that situation, where does the conspiracy involve me?" he queried. |
| Yadav's statement, according to Kumar was a political one. "I demand that the first report on the incident, filed by the divisional railway manager be made public to clear all doubts," he said. When asked why he did not make the report public, Kumar said he had placed a report in the House, which concerned aspects dealing with the railways. |
| "It is easy to become railway minister, but it is difficult to understand the functioning of the ministry," Kumar said sarcastically hitting out at Prasad for the manner in which the railway minister was functioning. |
| Prasad, whose speech was addressed to the treasury benches since the Opposition had boycotted him on the tainted ministers issue brought up the Godhra matter at the fag end of his reply. |
| Till then he regaled the House with his witticism about the Opposition which was "pretending" to boycott him but was surreptitiously listening to his speech. "Chup chup khade ho zaroor koi baat hai," he said. |
| After that he declared his intention to uncover the baat in the Godhra incident. |
Explore Business Standard