Tuesday, January 25 2005 09:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Armed with the Justice U C Bannerjee committee interim report which termed the Godhra train fire as 'accidental', RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) president Laloo Prasad yesterday (Jan 24, 2005) dubbed as 'highly objectionable' the Nanavati Commission's assertion that the blaze could have been an act of terror.

"If Nanawati felt so he should have submitted his report prior to the one given by the U C Bannerjee committee, which described the Godhra incident as an accident," the Railway Minister said in response to the interview given by retired justice G T Nanavati who heads the panel to probe the Gujarat violence, to a private TV channel.

Laloo, who went hammer and tongs after the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Sangh Parivar over the Godhra train blaze once the Banerjee committee interim findings came out, said, "It seems that the communal forces, including the BJP, who were at work to demolish secularism, have put pressure on Nanavati to give this interview.

"They have done so just to counter the report given by the U C Bannerjee committee, which maintained that an accidental fire had caused the Godhra incident," Prasad alleged.

Justice Nanavati, in an interview to a private news channel, said that the Bannerjee committee report terming the train fire as an 'accident' was not the final word. "Nothing can be ruled out at this stage," he said.

Nanavati further argued that while his commission had statutory powers to summon and order re-investigations, which "I don't think the railway appointed committee has. I don't know what were the compulsions that led to the appointment of the committee."