Thursday, February 3 2005 14:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Vithal Pandya, father of slain former Minister Haren Pandya, today (Feb 03, 2005) told the Godhra inquiry Commission, probing the Sabarmati Express train carnage, that his son had told him that the communal riots were 'State sponsored' and was "orchestrated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi."

Deposing before the Commission, comprising Justice (retd) G T Nanavati and Justice (retd) K G Shah, Pandya said that his son, a Revenue Minister then, had information that Modi had presided over a high-level meeting of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) party workers at Panchmahals district on the night of February 27, 2002 and told 55 workers to spread across the State.

Pandya said, "Haren also told me that police had got instructions to take revenge for the Godhra incident and to go soft on Kar Sevaks."

He said that Haren Pandya had also observed that this was the first time that the State Government supported a bandh call given by an outfit as no previous Chief Minister of Gujarat had supported such a call in past communal riots.

Pandya said that Haren had on February 27 itself remarked that the repercussions of the Godhra train carnage should be confined within the town or else it would go out of hand.