Wednesday, January 19 2005 20:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: A senior official of the State Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS) today (Jan 19, 2005) told the Godhra Commission, probing the Sabarmati Express train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots, that during his investigation of the S-7 coach, he noticed that the canvas of the vestibule had been changed.

During his cross-examination before the Commission, comprising Justice (Retd) G T Nanavati and Justice (Retd) K G Shah, by advocate Mukul Sinha, S G Khandelwal, an assistant Director of DFS, said during his investigation of the S-7 coach in July 2002, adjoining S-6 during the incident, he noticed that the canvas of the vestibule had been changed.

Replying to a question if he had inspected the vestibule of the S-7 coach of the Sabarmati Express train that was brought to Ahmedabad in July, five months after the incident, Khandelwal said, "I did inspect the vestibule and noticed that the canvas was a new one. It had been put in place of the old one that had burnt."

On being asked if he did not find this odd and if he had enquired about what had happened to the original one and if any sample was taken, Khandewal replied in the negative.

The Gujarat police has been claiming a conspiracy theory behind the train carnage and that the accused persons tore open the rubber vestibule of the S-7 coach, entered the S-6 and set it ablaze after dousing it with petrol.

The cross-examination of Khandewal and another DFS official also revealed that they were not briefed about what they were going to inspect (the charred coaches) and that there is no specific department to study burning patterns.