Monday, January 17 2005 17:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) today (Jan 17, 2005) slammed the interim report of the Bannerjee Committee on the Sabarmati Express fire as an "extra constitutional effort to influence the course of justice" and said it was released in view of the coming Bihar Assembly elections.

"Our worst fears have come true. This report is a disgraceful and unfortunate attempt to trivialise one of the worst offences and crimes which began a series of unfortunate incidents in February 2002," party general secretary Arun Jaitely told reporters in New Delhi.

He alleged that the report was released today after the completion of the first round of filing of nominations for the Assembly polls and not on March 3, upto which its term was extended, as it would not have helped the Railway Minister in the Bihar elections.

He alleged that the interim conclusions ignored the entire trial and was aimed at benefiting "those who committed the crime."

Jaitley however said the report had no legal basis as a criminal trial was already on and a commission of inquiry was probing the case. "The choice of the judge (U C Bannerjee) was of the political establishment. The credibility of such investigations without public hearings, expert reports, witness and cross examinations is less," he said.