Thursday, March 17 2005 09:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A police officer, who was the first to make his presence at the site of Best bakery carnage, yesterday (Mar 16, 2005) admitted that he made certain omissions in his statement recorded with the police.

PSI Balwant Rathod yesterday told the court he did not record the instance of three Muslim women approaching him and informing him that they had been attacked by a Hindu mob.

Earlier, during his deposition on Tuesday (Mar 15, 2005), Rathod had told the court that he arrived at the site at 10:30 hrs (IST) on March 2, 2002 and had seen seven dead bodies and had also seen nine others tied at the spot.

He also admitted to contradictions regarding presence of DCP Piyush Patel and PI D Baria at the spot.

In his statement, Rathore had said the victims had spoken to the two police officers but the record show they were not present at the spot when he was there.

The special court is conducting re-trial into Best bakery carnage that took place on March 1, 2002 in Vadodara during the post-Godhra riots and led to death of 14 persons.