THE TRUTH OF THE GUJRAT 2002
in the words of the Men who did it

THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF OUR TIME

Source: http://tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.asp
WITHIN HOURS of the tragedy on board the Sabarmati Express, the BJP and its affiliates — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bajrang Dal — started preparations for one of the worst acts of genocide in the history of India. On February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express fire, Ahmedabad witnessed mass killings of the most horrific nature. Armed saffron cadres roamed the streets, burning, looting, raping and killing Muslims at will. The neighbourhood that bled most was Naroda, a locality on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims.
In a most systematic manner, the BJP, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal formed an execution squad that carried out a pogrom from 10 in the morning of February 28 till after well past dark. Apart from firearms, tridents and swords, everything that could conceivably be turned into a weapon at short notice — from bricks to gas cylinders to diesel tankers — was unleashed on an entire neighbourhood of Muslims. Most victims were burnt alive. Before being set on fire, many were stabbed, raped and hacked apart.
Right through the massacre, the cellphones of the rioters were ringing constantly, with death scores being shared at regular intervals. By sundown, Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon, the Muslim neighbourhoods in the area, had been reduced to a vast wasteland of death. Sliced up like vegetables, burnt like charcoal and, bearing the testimony of slaughter at its crudest, corpses lay scattered across what had been a lively human settlement barely a few hours before.
Tehelka.com made the killers and conspirators of anti-Muslim Gujarat carnage talk before hidden camera in a five-month investigation:
Here are the transcripts that put India to shame:
Conspirators & Rioters
'After Killing Them, I Felt Like Maharana Pratap'
Transcript: BABU BAJRANGI
Neither loot nor rape, this Bajrang Dal leader had only murder on his mind
Bajrangi: My role was as follows: I was the first to start the [Naroda] Patiya operation… We and the local residents were all together. Patiya is just half a kilometre away from my home… I had gone to Godhra when it happened… I could not bear what I saw… The next day, we gave them a fitting reply…
TEHELKA: What were you unable to tolerate in Godhra?
Bajrangi: Any person who saw the Godhra kaand [massacre] would have felt like just killing them at once, hacking them apart… that's how it was…
TEHELKA: You were there?
Bajrangi: Yes, yes, I was with them… So the Godhra kaand happened and after what I saw, I just came back to Naroda and we took revenge.
TEHELKA: How could you organize it all in such short time?
Bajrangi: Little time… We organized everything that night itself… We mobilised a team of 29 or 30 people… Those who had guns, we went to them that night itself and told them to give us their guns… If anyone refused, I told them I would shoot them the next day, even if they were Hindu… So people agreed to part with whatever cartridges and guns they had… In this way, we collected 23 guns. But nobody died of gunshots… What happened was this: we chased them and were able to scare them into a huge khadda [pit]. There we surrounded them and finished everything off… Then, at 7 o'clock, we announced…
TEHELKA: This was in Patiya? That's what it's called, isn't it?
Bajrangi: Yes, yes, Patiya.
TEHELKA: Please describe the area.
Bajrangi: In Patiya, there is an ST [State Transport] workshop with a huge wall beside it; next to this wall, Patiya begins… Opposite Patiya, there is a masjid and beside it is a sprawling khadda… That's where we killed them all… At 7 o'clock, I called the home minister and also Jaideepbhai [Jaideep Patel, VHP general secretary] and told them how many people had been killed and said that things were now in their hands… I don't know if they did anything, though… At 2.30 in the morning, an FIR was lodged against me… The FIR said I was there… the police commissioner even issued orders to shoot me at sight…
TEHELKA: Who, Narendrabhai?
Bajrangi: The commissioner ordered…
TEHELKA: You were in touch only with Jaideepbhai?
Bajrangi: Only Jaideep was talking to me from the VHP.
TEHELKA: The day the Muslims were killed…
Bajrangi: I spoke to Jaideepbhai 11 or 12 times… aur humne tabiyat se kaata… Haldighati bana di thi [and we killed at will, turned the place into Haldighati]… And I am proud of it, if I get another chance, I will kill even more…
TEHELKA: Where was Jaideepbhai camping then?
Bajrangi: Jaideepbhai was sitting at Dhanwantri, which is Pravinbhai's dispensary, he was there… in Bapunagar… There he was and I didn't even tell him that we were going to do this… In Naroda and Naroda Patiya, we didn't spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we set them on fire and killed them… That's what we did… Up till then, they didn't know what was happening; when they got to hear of how many had been killed, they got scared…
Bajrangi: There is a distance of about half a kilometre between Naroda [Patiya] and Naroda Gaon... We did a lot at both places… must have butchered not less than… Then we dumped the corpses into a well… At first, I didn't talk [This was TEHELKA's fourth meeting with him.] I thought… Many journalists and all kinds of people and come ask me if I was in the Patiya incident… I tell them I was not involved, I was quite far away admitted in a hospital…
TEHELKA: Do you know Gordhan Zadaphia has revolted?… During the Patiya massacre, what did he say when you spoke to him?
Bajrangi: I spoke to Gordhan Zadaphia… I told him everything that had happened… He told me to leave Gujarat and go into hiding… I asked what he meant, but he told me to run away and to not ever say anywhere that we had talked…
TEHELKA: Tell us how it was all done… revolvers… cylinders…
Bajrangi: The cylinders were theirs [the Muslims']… Whichever house we entered, we just grabbed the cylinder and fired at it, and, dhadak, they exploded… We had guns in any case… I can't tell you what a good time it was… But four of our activists died in it… No hearing took place even in that…
TEHELKA: Did you climb to the top of a masjid and tie a pig there?
Bajrangi:We rammed an entire tanker into it… the tanker was fully laden… We rammed that tanker inside…
TEHELKA: It was a petrol tanker, no?
Bajrangi: It was diesel… We drove a whole diesel tanker in and then set [the mosque] on fire…
TEHELKA: Meaning, it was the tanker explosion which set Patiya on fire?
Bajrangi: In the masjid…
TEHELKA: In the masjid…
Bajrangi: As for the rest of it, I was in charge at the time… Whatever I wanted to do, I did…
TEHELKA: At the pit, was oil… Those people had gathered there…
Bajrangi: It was a huge pit… You could enter it from one side but you couldn't climb out at the other end… They were all there together… They started clinging to each other… Even while they were dying, they told each other, you die too, what are you going to be saved for, you die too… so the number of deaths increased.
TEHELKA: Then people poured oil in…
Bajrangi: Oil and burning tyres…
TEHELKA: Where did the oil come from?
Bajrangi: Oh that… We had lots of material with us… we filled lots of jerrycans in advance… From the petrol pump, the night before… Petrol pump owners gave us petrol and diesel for free…
TEHELKA: Muslims were hacked to pieces…
Bajrangi: Hacked, burnt, set on fire, many things were done… many… We believe in setting them on fire because these bastards say they don't want to be cremated, they're afraid of it, they say this and that will happen to them… I have just one wish… one last wish…. Let me be sentenced to death… I don't want to be incarcerated… I don't care if I'm hanged… Give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura [a Muslim dominated area], where seven or eight lakh of these people stay… I will finish them off … Let a few more of them die… At least 25-50,000 should die…
TEHELKA: How many witnesses have testified against you?
Bajrangi: Fourteen Muslims and 16 policemen… Out of the 14 Muslims, some have moved to Juhapura… They've left Patiya, they don't have the guts to stay there, defying us… The rest have gone to Karnataka… They got money after all, Rs 7 lakh each… Narendrabhai never said how much they would be given… He announced [the compensation package] then gave out cheques of Rs 20,000 each and that's where things got stuck… Afterwards, he gave nothing to anyone… But then the Central government supported them…
TEHELKA: In other words, the way [you] have killed will go down in history.
Bajrangi: Arrey hamari FIR me likha gaya hai… ek woh pregnant thi, usko to humne chir diya thha b*******d sala… Unko dikhaya ki kya hota hai… ki hum log ko tumne maara to hum tumko kya pratikaar de sakte hain… hum khichdi kadhi wale nahin hai [It has been written in my FIR… there was this pregnant woman, I slit her open, sisterf****r… Showed them what's what… what kind of revenge we can take if our people are killed… I am no feeble rice-eater]… didn't spare anyone… they shouldn't even be allowed to breed… I say that even today… Whoever they are, women, children, whoever… Nothing to be done with them but cut them down. Thrash them, slash them, burn the bastards… Hindus can be bad… Hindus can be bad, and I'm saying that because, as I see it, Hindus are as wicked as those people are… Many of them wasted time looting… Arrey, [the idea is] don't keep them alive at all, after that everything is ours…
TEHELKA: And some people also raped…
Bajrangi: No, there were no rapes…
TEHELKA: One or two Chharas may have…
Bajrangi: If some Chharas took some women, that's a different matter… We were marching in groups… There was no place to rape anyone there… Everyone was on a killing spree… we were killing, hacking… There were lanes where we had to face Muslims… there would be a confrontation, they'd fight back with all their strength…The moment we'd killed a few, we'd move on… In this melée, if some girl was trying to run away and if a Chhara caught her, then that's another matter… That day, it was like what happened between Pakistan and India… There were bodies everywhere… it was a sight to be seen, but it wasn't something to be filmed, in case it got into someone's hands… There was a video-wala there, some mediawala, we set him on fire too… Lots of those miyas [Muslims] deceived us… They'd chant Jai Mata Di and get away... that happened too… they'd put tilaks on their foreheads and shout Jai Shri Ram, Jai Mata Di….
TEHELKA: Tell me how that SRPF [State Reserve Police Force] man saved people?
Bajrangi: There was just one Muslim… some big SRP man… Sayeed…
TEHELKA: He was an officer...
Bajrangi: Yes, he was… All this cutting and killing happened behind the SRP camp… The ones who weren't in the pit, they ran and got into the SRP compound… The SRP jawans there were driving them away… when the officer came in his vehicle and said take everyone inside… He was in command… an officer… So, lots of people were saved this way… at least 500 were rescued… Otherwise would they have all gone too… The officer was also fired at… He is also a witness against me…
TEHELKA: But then Narendrabhai promoted him and…
Bajrangi: Silenced him… So, there was good work done in Patiya. Today too I am fighting against Muslims and will continue to do so… I have nothing to do with politics… What I say is this: the VHP is an organisation… a Hindu organisation… Our politics should be limited to killing Muslims, beating them up…
TEHELKA: How do you feel after you have killed Muslims…
Bajrangi: Maza aata hai na, saheb [I enjoy it]… I came back after I killed them them, called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap… I'd heard stories about him, but that day I did what he did myself.


'I Got A Call Saying, What's This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping?
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
Spurred on by Modi's statement in Godhra, Dave and other VHP men set about picking out targets and killing them one by one.
Dave: Whatever happened [at Godhra], happened for the best… And, in any case, Rajendrabhai [Vyas] was in charge of the Godhra case…
TEHELKA: He was the incharge of the train…yes…
Dave: I was with him too as the deputy incharge…
TEHELKA: Were you on the train? Dave: No, I didn't go… I am a diabetic and so I stayed back… Then around 9.30, I got a call from there, informing me of what had happened…
TEHELKA: Rajendrabhai called you up?
Dave: Rajendrabhai called up… he asked me what now… I said don't worry… I will reach Godhra by 12 o'clock… Then he said there was no need to come to Godhra… some other people were already on their way… but the situation was out of control there and it had to be handled… I told him not to worry… and then he started crying… Rajendrabhai… he said 60 of our people had died… that we were playing a one-day…
TEHELKA: He told me that too…
Dave: One day khelna hai… 600 ko… maine bola koi tension mat lo, bhagwan ki kripa hai, ho jayega jo bhi hone wala hai… phir yahan laashein wagairah laayi… Phir main bhi raat ko gaya… drishya dekh kar bada… [We have to play a one-day… 600 have to be… I told him not to worry, whatever has to be done will be done by God's grace… later on, the dead were brought here… I also went there that night… the scene was…
TEHELKA: I saw the pictures… in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office…
Dave: In the office… We went to the office at night… the atmosphere there was very disturbing… everybody had the same reaction… what all of them felt was that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support at that time…
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi's reaction when he reached Godhra and when he returned?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He himself was in a rage… after all, he has been a swayamsevak with the Sangh right from childhood…his anger was such… he himself did not come out into the open then but the police and all had turned totally ineffective at that time… The next day, we took out a funeral procession for the dead at 10.30… from the VHP office… these are things that have never been told… What actually happened was that I got a call at around quarter to eleven saying Rameshbhai what is this… all of Gujarat is sleeping… what is to be done… doesn't matter… you will get a reaction from my side right now… At quarter to eleven, we went to a spot there… There a shootout took place… from there the whole of Gujarat caught on… but the spot [where it started] was Dariyapur…
Dave: This is Kandhariapur… Hindus are gradually decreasing here… Muslims are more in number…
TEHELKA: They are increasing…
Dave: This is our border… All the area behind this house is his [Abdul Latif 's]… At the time of the Godhra massacre, rioting started here at around 11 o'clock… We fought here till the next 11 o'clock…
TEHELKA: Was there firing from their side too?
Dave: They did not… This time, everyone was on the Hindus' side… At that time, I was given charge of Madhopura… It is very nearby… there were almost 123 riot-related cases there… Of these, around 15 were under Section 302… you understand this… What happened was, we targeted and killed all those who had been in our sights for the past 20-25 years…
Dave: We showed the horrific video we had shot [at Godhra] to people… What happens is… there's a certain fury… A dormant volcano erupted all of a sudden… Those people did suffer a lot of damage… Our plan was to burn Godhra down to the ground… to burn all these Musalman-wusalmans… but then, to get everyone together here… to handle the situation…
TEHELKA: And all the VVIPs had also started visiting by then… Was there retaliation in Kalupur?
Dave: Yes we took revenge… to a great extent… meaning zabardast.
TEHELKA: How many were killed?
Dave: Now approximately, here in the interiors, I'd say only around 60-70… But the kind of revenge there was… What these people did in Kalupur and Dariyapur… they have three areas… four areas… Juhapura, Shahpur, Dariyapur and Kalupur… What they would do is they'd riot all over the place, and then they would sneak back here to hide…
TEHELKA: I had such an open conversation that Hareshbhai told me… Hareshbhai Bhatt's factory… how bombs were made in his cracker factory…
Dave: Yes they were made… here then… If we weren't here, we would be outside… Ghanshyam Patel used to call up people and control everything...
TEHELKA: So when the riots started in Dariyapur and Kalupur, did you people have any weapons or not?
Dave: Some had already come…
TEHELKA: But Hindus don't keep weapons…
Dave: They don't have weapons, but our brother got us revolvers and that's how we would get by… and this is not the age of swords, anyway… So that is all one wants for weapons…
TEHELKA: So how many did he get? Two or three… the stand wala?
Dave: No, they were about 8 or 10
TEHELKA: Can I meet our activists [from the Sangh] who had been jailed but are now released? Just one or two?
Dave: There was one by the name of Yogi… Have you met Harshadbhai… Harshadbhai Giletwala?
TEHELKA: Not yet, Rajendrabhai gave me his name a while ago… but I haven't met him yet…
Dave: He got burnt in that case… while setting that hotel on fire… He had 75 percent burns…
TEHELKA: Which hotel? Best Bakery is in Baroda…
Dave: No, no, it's this one…
Dave's wife: It was a Muslim hotel…
TEHELKA: Was it in Kalupur?
Dave: No no… it is on that side, near Narayan Pura…
TEHELKA: Were some Muslims also killed?
Dave: One died…
TEHELKA: So Harshadbhai sustained 75 percent burns…
Dave: If you meet him now, he looks just the same… He sustained 75 percent injuries… it wasn't easy saving him… the mrityunjay was chanted one lakh twenty five thousand times… Rs 4-5 lakh were also spent…
TEHELKA: Can I meet someone other than him… Can I meet the person who runs the stand?
Dave: No, he is out of town somewhere… And he won't talk about it all now… Actually… like he told me, in his business, he has to deal with both Hindus and Muslims…
TEHELKA: Was an FIR lodged against him?
Dave: It was lodged before the riots… It was in a case of the murder of a Muslim, in which he was arrested…
TEHELKA: No, after Godhra…
Dave: No… Not after Godhra… The main ones here… what happened was that nobody fought here… they used to go away from this place… all the bootleggers from Dariyapur and Kalupur used to go elsewhere to fight…
TEHELKA: What was the strategy followed? Was there a fixed strategy or was it like a sort of hit-and run?
Dave: No, the strategy was that the main ones…
TEHELKA: The ones who used to harass… the goons…
Dave: They were the ones in particular whom we had to put straight… This goes on even today…
TEHELKA: Like who? Can I get some names?
Dave: I don't remember the names of those Muslims… but the ones who were there… they were handpicked and killed one by one. There was one Katki in Madhopura… whenever a riot took place, he was the first to come out… That day we targeted him and killed him. There were two advantages to that… it boosted the morale of the Hindus… and damaged the morale of the Muslims…
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have any meeting the day Godhra happened? Was any strategy planned? Some common strategy must have been made by you people?
Dave: No, it happened but… At that time, the atmosphere was also very volatile… It could have been used for the sangathan… the sangathan has grown because of that… there was a time when…
TEHELKA: No, like the Godhra massacre happened on the 27th… did our leaders, who were there in Ahmedabad that day, get in touch with each other and plan out some strategy?
Dave: It happened…
TEHELKA: Or was it that they couldn't meet because of the curfew…
Dave: No even if curfew is imposed nowadays, we can go out… There are lanes that let you do that… and even if there aren't any such, we set out on the roads themselves. Meetings did happen… eight to ten meetings at various places… The strategy was that since we had to take revenge, we should show them at one go and then there would be peace for the next ten or so years…




'They Hacked Him Bit By Bit, Then Burnt Him Alive'
Transcript: MADAN CHAWAL
This Gulbarg accused was part of the team that kicked former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri to the ground and killed him.
Chawal: I was there that day… all day, I ran with them… When they brought Jafri saheb, I was standing there itself… they held him down, kicked him in the back… they meant to chop him up…
TEHELKA: Describe it all in detail… Where did it begin?
Chawal: I was at my shop when the VHP people came around 8.30-9 o'clock to get the shops to down shutters. Around 9-9.30, a shop was set ablaze right in front of mine. That's when I realized it had started…
TEHELKA:Was it a Muslim's shop?
Chawal: Yes, it was. People started running once it started. Papa told me to close my shop… even though it was my region, my area, and nobody would have said anything even if my shop had stayed open… Nobody spoke when they told them to close the shops… Then I gestured with my hands to say it wouldn't look nice, it was a matter of religion and hence it was all the more important to close the shops… My father said close it for today, let's go home… My father, the others, all of us went home…Then around 10.30 or 11, I went out… The moment I did so, I joined the mob… the ruckus continued all the time I was with the crowd… it went on for at least two and a half hours …
TEHELKA: Who was leading the mob?
Chawal: Most people had joined the mob. The moment that shop was set on fire, everyone started gathering there.
TEHELKA:Were the VHP people also part of the mob?
Chawal: All of them.
TEHELKA: Who were there from the VHP?
Chawal: At that time, I didn't know all the leaders… I never had any contacts since I'm from a business background and I knew people only from that field… Later, though, when I met Atul-bhai, I remembered he was there too…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid was there…
Chawal: Atul Vaid was there, then there's one Bharatbhai Teli, he was also there. These boys…these big ones… they came to get me out of jail, it was then that I met them… they would come to the police station… Although they never came to the Central jail… they would look at me when they would come to the station … That was when I began realising that they were also there… And I used to wonder why I had been arrested while their names were dropped… Why didn't Atul
Vaid and Bharat Teli's names come up when mine did?… I didn't give it too much importance, though, since these people could have helped me leave jail or do something else for me. That is why I never opened my mouth, never dropped a word anywhere about these people being there too… nobody ever said anything about it… not even the 40 boys who were inside jail…
TEHELKA: Everybody knew it…
Chawal: They knew it…We would never talk about what exactly happened… In jail, we would say that we didn't know anything about it… that we'd just been trapped … I was recorded in the first chargesheet as having used kerosene to lit a fire… In that chargesheet I had been shot around 5.30-6.00 in the evening when Erda saheb said…
TEHELKA: Who shot you?
Chawal: Erda saheb said that…that whole region… Didn't I show you the place?
TEHELKA: Yes.
Chawal: I was just standing around… some eight to 15 people were there near him… We asked, saheb, what are you doing, why are you saving them?
TEHELKA: You said this to Erda…
Chawal: The public… we were eight to 15 people… everyone asked him 'What are you doing?'
TEHELKA: You asked him where he was taking the Muslims?
Chawal:We asked him where he was taking them… then he told us what he was doing…
TEHELKA: What did he say?
Chawal: He said, do this… when the vehicle [in which the Muslims were] comes this way, our constable [accompanying the vehicle] will run away… set the vehicle on fire… The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone… Poori picture yahin khatam ho jayegi [it will be "The End" here itself]… When he said this, the Bagri community thought that they were taking people who could turn witness… [they feared] that he might get them in trouble… They started pelting stones at Erda saheb… and when one of them hit him, I ran away. He took out his revolver… he was behind me… he yelled at me and told me stop… When I tried to pull my nephew along with me while I was escaping, he shot at me…
TEHELKA: Erda saheb shot you?… Was it by mistake…
Chawal: It was by mistake… it was shot at my hand… My hand was injured but none of the clinics were open, all of them were closed… All the hospital at that time… Then I went to the Civil Hospital… I wasn't aware about things like these because I had never been part of anything like this before… That day, I ended up getting my real name written in the hospital records…
TEHELKA: Then how did you kill Jafri that morning?
Chawal: Jafri…Well, it's like when those people caught him, I kicked him in the back and they pulled him away… The moment they pulled him away…
TEHELKA: You kicked Jafri?
Chawal: Kicked him…
TEHELKA: He fell down…
Chawal: Gira… woh nahi… khaich... unke haath me tha, na… Paanchchheh jan pakad liye the, phir usko jaise pakad ke khada rakha phir logon mein kisi ne talwar maari… haath kate… haath kaat ke phir pair kaate… phir na sab kaat dala… phir tukde kar ke phir lakda jo lagaye the, lakde uspe rakh ke phir jala daala… zinda jala daala… [Fell down… not that… He was pulled by his hand… Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword… chopped off his hand, then his legs… chopped off all his organs… after cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they'd piled and set it on fire… burnt him alive…]
TEHELKA: So when you people were cutting up Jafri's body, didn't Erda come to save him?
Chawal: No one did anything… At that time, Erda saheb wasn't even there… He had gone to Meghaninagar with his vehicle… He didn't know they were chopping Jafri saheb… All this happened around 1 or 1.30.
TEHELKA: But did the rest of Jafri's family manage to escape?
Chawal: No they didn't… His wife was the only one saved… She disguised herself as a Hindu…
TEHELKA: But some of his daughters were saved?
Chawal: Nobody at the place escaped, none of his family… The only ones who did were the ones who weren't there… His wife said that she was a maid… a Hindu, living in the Patrewali Chawl that is behind… Why do you want to kill me [she said], I'm just a servant. She was dressed like a Hindu… well dressed…
TEHELKA: She escaped because you didn't recognise her?
Chawal: I had never met her because there was never a need to go and meet them… I never had any relations with them…
TEHELKA: How big is Gulbarg society…Do lots of people live there?
Chawal: Lots of them.
TEHELKA: So have people come back to live at this place?
Chawal: Nobody has come back… it's closed now… it's like a jail… Nobody came back to it…
TEHELKA: But some people were saved there that evening?…
Chawal: Some 40 people ran away… some of them had left before…
TEHELKA: So how did you enter Gulbarg?
Chawal: People got gas cylinders from their homes… They kept them on the society's outer walls… then they got pipes from the bakery where bread and so on are made and they opened the cylinders with them. Then they went far and made a khupda [cloth torch] and threw the cylinders at the wall… The cylinders exploded and the wall broke. Then we got inside…
TEHELKA: Was the wall too high?
Chawal: Too much… it was no two ft wall… It must have been around 15-20 feet high…On top of it, there was a barbed wire fence too…
TEHELKA: So the wall broke with just one or two cylinders?
Chawal: Two cylinders… one was thrown there and the other one in the front… The wall would obviously have broken from the cylinders… Cylinders are heavy…
TEHELKA: So the houses inside caught fire?
Chawal: People used the residents'own things to burn their houses… nobody needed to get anything from outside… their own things were used to burn them…
TEHELKA: The same thing happened in Patiya too…
Chawal: The same happened in Patiya…


'Parishad People Got Me Out On Bail'
Transcript: PRAHLAD RAJU
Raju, accused in the Gulbarg case, had to spend six months in jail. But it was quite comfortable, he says
TEHELKA: How many months did you spend in jail?
Prahlad Raju: I was there for six and-a-half months. …
TEHELKA: What help did the VHP provide you with during that time?
Raju: They delivered goods at my home.
TEHELKA: Rations?
Raju: I have two kids. They were in school… I had talked to VHP people who used to come to the courts on hearing dates. They told me there was no need to pay the school fees and that they would talk to the school authorities… They did go to the school, but they didn't pay the fees… When I came back after six-and-a-half months, I found I had to pay the entire fees for both kids at one go.
TEHELKA: Had they told you they would pay the fees?
Raju: Yeah…they had gone to the school too…
TEHELKA: Who went there from the VHP?
Raju: Bharatbhai Teli
TEHELKA: Bharatbhai Teli went there… and did nothing.
Raju: Nothing…
TEHELKA: The day this Gulbarg thing happened… were VHP people with you?
Raju: They were… At 8:30, they started from Meghaninagar … They were closing down shops… and banding together… I joined them at 7:30. I was acquainted with Atulbhai…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid?
Raju: He said everybody was to move together…
TEHELKA: Who said this… Atul Vaid?
Raju: Yes.
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid said this or Bharat Teli?
Raju: Atul Vaid…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid told you to move together…
Raju: Move together…
TEHELKA: From Meghaninagar ….
Raju: From there, we all moved together…
TEHELKA: Where?
Raju: Towards Gulbarg … We were closing down shops and people were joining us…
TEHELKA: People kept multiplying…
Raju: Kept multiplying …
TEHELKA: What happened after you reached Gulbarg?
Raju: Then the stone pelting started. When the other side started firing at us, we went back to our homes… I used to live in a Muslim locality. I got my kids out.
TEHELKA: You left the kids home?
Raju: It's the same way from Gulbarg to my house. We were going from the back way… where there is a railway track… I was hit on my leg.
TEHELKA: Your leg was hurt… You were hit by stone?
Raju: No… A charra [small pellet] hit me.
TEHELKA: Then… you left the kids at home…
Raju: After leaving the kids, I went to hospital…
TEHELKA: From there you went to hospital…
Raju: I left the place at one o' clock…
TEHELKA: The hospital?
Raju: No, the area… I mean Gulbarg… I came back from the Civil Hospital at five. At that time, they were being taken away…
TEHELKA: Dead bodies?
Raju: No… those who survived...
TEHELKA: They were being taken…
Raju: Dead bodies were taken away in the night… first at 11 o' clock and then a second batch in the morning.
TEHELKA: You didn't do anything there at that time?
Raju: At that time, there was stone pelting. That was all that happened.
TEHELKA: You were there only during the stone pelting….
Raju: I could not get inside…
TEHELKA: Then who went inside Gulbarg?
Raju: I don't know who were present inside. But they were not local people.
TEHELKA: They were from outside… but were there any Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?
Raju: Yes…there were …
TEHELKA: Were there any people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh?
Raju: They were carrying trishuls… Bajrang Dal…
TEHELKA: So it was Bajrang Dal people who went inside?
Raju: [nods his head in confirmation]
TEHELKA: Everybody was carrying a trishul.
Raju: Yeah..Carrying trishuls…
TEHELKA: So… where did the police pick you up from?
Raju: My name was there.
TEHELKA: You were picked up on the second day itself?
Raju: No, they did not pick me up. There was an inquiry so we left that place. Then I met these people… Chetanbhai Shah [public prosecutor]. He told me to get ready to leave the place for three or four months. He said, leave home for a month. I did that but the Crime Branch people started giving me trouble. Then I got myself arrested. Then they treated me well.
TEHELKA: The Crime Branch…
Raju: People from the Crime Branch behaved very nicely with us. We felt quite at home. Our family members used to come to meet us…
TEHELKA: And did you spend your own money on your bail?
Raju: No, the Parishad people did that.
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's people bail you out?
Raju: [nods his head in the affirmative] Nineteen people were released simultaneously…


'We Dragged Them Out Of Their Houses'
Transcript: MANGILAL JAIN
Jain joined in the slaughter which began as soon as Inspector Erda told the mob at Gulbarg that it had three hours.
TEHELKA: What was the name of that inspector you were talking about.
Mangilal Jain: Erda…
TEHELKA: Erda…what did he do?
Jain: He supported us… The police kept away from public that day.
TEHELKA: Kept away from Muslims?
Jain: Public… kept away from Hindus… They [the police] told us that everything should be finished within 2-3 hours.
TEHELKA: That means they gave you 2-3 hours …
Jain: To finish…
TEHELKA: Finish everything…
Jain: This was happening across all of Ahmedabad. [It was understood] no outsider would come. Even reinforcements weren't going to come… the forces wouldn't get there till evening… so all the work should be done.
TEHELKA: He told you to do it all in two to three hours…
Jain: He [Erda] said it and the mob went berserk. Some started looting. Others started killing… Someone dragged a man out and hacked him down and burned him… A lot of this kind of stuff happened…
TEHELKA: So… did only people from the society get killed or were there other Muslims also?
Jain: No sir… people from outside also got killed. There are Muslims living on the streets all around the society… they are poor people… these are rich people [indicating those who lived in Gulbarg society]… These street dwellers are labourers, mechanics and factory workers… Whenever the situation would get tense, Ehsan Jafri would call everyone in. There was a masjid inside… and every year he would arrange for them to be fed. Whenever a riot broke out, all these people would take shelter inside.… He was very capable. He would make just one call and the police would land up. There was always an SRP [State Reserve Police Force] post at this place. So people would feel safe there.
TEHELKA: So that day you were just one of the crowd… raising the slogan of Jai Shri Ram…
Jain: Just chanting Jai Shri Ram was giving people an adrenaline rush. I was there with a lot of friends, sir, Jai Shri Ram.…
TEHELKA: So who were our people who took part in the killing?
Jain: Look, sir... there were a lot of faces whom I didn't know at all… Bharat Teli, Atul Vaid and many other people were there. They came from far away places like Bapu Nagar and Meghaninagar…
TEHELKA: Bharat Teli and Atul Vaid did a lot of fighting?
Jain: These were the people in groups sir… there were a lot of young people with them… that day, there was a mob of 50,000 people… How could we know who was who? These are the kinds of people who have a lot of exuberance, those who are non-vegetarian. Those are the people who could be so cruel.
TEHELKA: So… how did we chop off these Muslims?
Jain: They were dragged out of their houses. Someone cut them down… another set them ablaze. Fire was already there… petrol.
TEHELKA: So petrol was available…
Jain: Petrol and kerosene were brought… by these people. They came in the vehicles. [They said] Come with us… there is riot… our Hindu brothers are being attacked… come…
TEHELKA: These were our Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?
Jain: Yes… They came in huge numbers… in vehicles… in whatever mode of transport they could get… they surrounded everything and that Lanka was completely destroyed… There were all the people from the neighbourhoods nearby inside… Whoever was seen, was killed. There was a basement… people who took shelter there survived… there were 70-80 of them…
TEHELKA: People hid there?
Jain: Yes, they hid… In the evening, when it was discovered that there were people inside, then they were taken to a safe place… Eighty to ninety people were killed… Ninety must have been killed… but only those whose dead bodies were recovered were reported and could be identified. Many people were reported missing… Jafri's body could not be recovered. He was burnt… nothing of him was found.


'The Idea Came From Modi Himself'
Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT
The chief auditor of MS University, Bhatt reveals the minute planning and mobilisation that went into the attacks.
Dhimant Bhatt: I have two charges… I am chief auditor for the entire university [MSU] as well as chief accounts officer… this is a financial matter… everybody needs funds… this is why it is hectic… I am a staunch Hindu… suppose somebody from the Sangh says we have to promote Hindu fundamentalism, I will be the first to volunteer… I will go and say, brothers, put the Sangh's lathis aside and pick up AK-56s … pick up AK-56s because if you have to develop Hinduism, it is clear who the enemies are… There are two who are against Hinduism… Muslims, who are open… but the Christians… they are like a bacterial virus … and there's a third, the Communists, who are developing now… red waale… If you have to fight them, you need power and that power will not come from the lathi… only the bullet will do… we go to RSS shakhas … pick up the lathi and use it… All that is fine but now they should be replaced with AKs and a Hindu brigade should be formed…
Bhatt: After Godhra, there was this reaction and a certain climate was created in the Parivar by the top leaders, meaning the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the BJP and the Durga Vahini… and in that we had Narendra Modi's support… Let people say what they like, [we had] support in the sense that if Hindus are going to be burnt like this… if conspiracies are going to be hatched to burn Hindus… they wanted to burn the whole train [the Sabarmati Express]… and now if we don't do anything, if we don't generate an adequate reaction, another train will be set on fire…. This was the idea, the thought that came from him [Modi]… I was present in the meeting…
TEHELKA: Where, sir…
Bhatt: It was held in Baroda itself…at a secret place…
TEHELKA: After Godhra …
Bhatt: Immediately after. The same day as Godhra… there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda… on what action we were to take… everybody was present … the BJP, the RSS, the Parishad… it was decided that we would not take this any longer… if we have the guts, we should react… so everyone felt, unanimously, that since we didn't want to be on the defensive, we should start that night itself…
TEHELKA:Was this a meeting of the top leadership or of local leaders or of the ground workers?
Bhatt: Actually it was the local leaders… The message came from the top leaders… the local leaders implemented it and the workers spread it…
TEHELKA: So how many people were present at that meeting?
Bhatt: About 65 to 70.
TEHELKA: 65 to 70?
Bhatt: All key persons of Baroda.
TEHELKA: From different saffron organisations?
Bhatt: In Ahmedabad, there were two persons… I won't tell you the place… that is secret… it is the Parivar's… In Ahmedabad, the party has a farmhouse… we started… supplying everything… made a plan… If the police makes arrests, then [we were to secure] the release [of those in custody]. That night, we sat up and made a panel of advocates… If Hindus were injured, then how to take them to hospitals… how we were to help… We made the whole plan… to start a Hindu jehad… we were successful in Gujarat… We were thinking what should we do… so we got three-foot long iron rods… iron bars, and if the cadre was from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… In other words, we made a plan and supplied the samaan [weapons]… it was very necessary… After we supplied the samaan, the Hindus got very motivated… Until Godhra happened, the upper castes would never come out… Baniyas… Patels… they would never come out… But we mobilized them… told them that we had prepared teams from the police and amongst advocates… that if they went to jail, we would get them released…
TEHELKA: And that strategy worked…
Bhatt: That strategy worked very nicely… in my [housing] society, even the women started coming out… Then we devised a strategy of alerting everyone… There used to be curfew after dark, so I would come out at night and clank some utensils — tan tan tan — I did that at two in the morning and within minutes, 500 people had gathered with their lathis asking, what is it, what is it… this awareness had been created in Baroda… and it was same in Godhra and in Ahmedabad…
TEHELKA: Baroda and Ahmedabad were spearheading this campaign…
Bhatt: Then in my area… have you heard of the name Bandukwala?…
TEHELKA: The professor…
Bhatt: He's retired… he is a Muslim… He is a Bohra Muslim… a doctor in physics, a man of science… Among Muslims, the educated ones are more fundamentalist… And among Hindus, the educated ones are more liberal…
Bhatt: Bandukwala is now retired from university service… so now he is free… He is running some organisation…
TEHELKA: But during the riots, did he organise some mob?
Bhatt: During the riots… His bungalow was just in front of my society… exactly in front of my society… We burnt his bungalow down completely… just broke it down and burnt it… He ran away and after that we damaged it quite a bit… A lot of Hindus gathered there… There was another government officer called Peerzada… He was also in my area… We burnt his house too… I am telling you very openly… even an FIR was lodged… See, we have done this, so we have done it… We have no regrets, we did it for the Hindus… We started the toofan [the riots] from Baroda, from Shama Road… Panigate… Mandwi… Merani … these are the most sensitive areas… This Peerzada…he was development officer in the panchayat [department] of the government of Gujarat... He was also this type, educated…. He also ran away… Then there was another man in the GSFC… he was also educated, a chemical engineer… We got him to leave too… Because of the Hindu resurgence that has taken place… after Godhra… Hindus have started keeping weapons at home… Their morale has got a boost…
TEHELKA: The Hindus are riding high on confidence …
Bhatt: There is now pride in being a Hindu… Hindus are feeling a sense of pride and the upper castes too have come out now in support of the Parivar…


'It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen'
Transcript: DEEPAK SHAH
A senior Vadodara BJP leader reveals how 'revenge' was planned the very day of the Sabarmati Express incident.
TEHELKA: What time did you reach Baroda [from Godhra]?…
Deepak Shah: We got there at about three, four o clock…
TEHELKA: After admitting the injured to hospital …
Shah: We had gone with a big ambulance… went straight to the hospital… got them admitted… Then we met the Godhra MP, Gopal Singh … met the train collector also… The directives were clearly given to the police… to the MP also … the directives were very clear… that no Hindu is to be arrested now… catch all the Muslims… don't talk to us about balance… "balance" is something we'll do later… Just take the force now and teach them a lesson…
TEHELKA: In Godhra?
Shah: We went to a lot of places… Everybody's views were zabardast [fierce]... Jaideepbhai from the VHP was also there… All our workers had gathered on the road… there was tremendous fury… They seemed to have made up their minds then itself that this time they were not going to spare the Muslims… When we reached Baroda too, it was a curfew-like situation because everyone had come to know through the media of the terrible incident that had happened… The anger was so spontaneous… that even on the way, wherever there was a Muslim shop or house, it was burnt …
TEHELKA: How was it all organized…
Shah: For the next two days in Baroda, everyone just targeted… whoever they could… as many as possible… even in remote areas like Manzarpur... Areas like Alkapuri and Gotri have never even seen stone pelting... such areas which have no history whatsoever of riots… in those areas, people selectively targeted all the Muslim shops and burnt them …
TEHELKA: Were you at the meeting held in Baroda that night?
Shah: Yes… I went for that meeting too… The general sentiment was that if we did not retaliate even after such a big incident and if we just backed down quietly, then they would be encouraged to spread terror… They can do anything… First we gave a bandh call…
TEHELKA: Only VHP people attended the meeting….
Shah: No, no, everybody was there…There were people from the Sangh Parivar… from the Sangathan… the Mandal … you know, people who participate in any big event organized by the VHP… All the youth wings were also invited…
TEHELKA: Fifty to sixty people were there in the meeting …
Shah: The number was higher… around 100–150
TEHELKA: Like in Ahmedabad, where the meeting was held at some guesthouse…
Shah: Yes, it was held here at the Narmada guest house …
TEHELKA: Narmada guesthouse… Did anyone spell out anything specific?
Shah: Everyone expressed their views… [the view was] itihaas me kabhi sakshi na ho aisa hona chahiye [it should be something history has not witnessed)…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me about the strategy… about constituting a team of lawyers …
Shah: Correct… because the police will conduct an inquiry… So [we had to think of] what we would do to protect our people…
TEHELKA: So who were there in the legal team?
Shah: Sanjaybhai Joshi was there… Neeraj Jain was there...
TEHELKA: Rajendra Trivedi was there?
Shah: Rajendra Trivedi was there… Pankaj Chabar …Tushar Vyas…
TEHELKA: Who was used in the attack?
Shah: There are warring communities… the Kharvas… the Baakris… They always come forward at such times… They are meat-eating people … they have the tools and they usually lead from the front… So they were channelized … There were Kahars… A lot of Rabaris were there this time… Bhadris, Parmars and
Marathi-speaking people, who have a lot of passion…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me that a peace committee was formed just to mislead everyone, and that committee moulded rods and pipes and distributed them…
Shah: Whatever was needed was given… After all, it was a battle for faith…

What They Said About Modi
NARENDRA MODI's anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Haresh Bhatt, the then national co-coordinator of the Bajrang Dal, was part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Bhatt says, "He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt."
RAJENDRA VYAS, the VHP's Ahmedabad city president, was consoled by Modi, who said, "Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of."
NOT ONLY DID THE MODI government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail
SINCE THE POLICE were in control all over Gujarat, Modi instructed them to side with the Hindus, thus giving the rioters a free hand for three days until pressure from higher quarters necessitated the calling in of the army
AFTER THE NARODA PATIYA carnage, the chief minister himself went to the site and acknowledged the efforts of the Chhara tribe, who were key participants in the massacre at Naroda Patiya
ARVIND PANDYA, government counsel, is convinced that Modi's strong leadership made the post-Godhra carnage possible



'We Were Blessed, He Told Us'
Transcript: SURESH RICHARD
Modi personally congratulated Richard as he showered praises on the Chhara tribe for a job well done.
Suresh Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… At around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…
TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi…
Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…
TEHELKA: He came out on the road?
Richard: Here, near this house…Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…
TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened…
Richard: The same evening…
TEHELKA: 28 February …
Richard: 28…
TEHELKA: 2002…
Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…
TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o' clock or at 7?
Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots…
TEHELKA: Now, after that day when Narendrabhai Modi visited your home, the day of the Naroda Patiya massacre, has he ever been back here again?
Richard: Never.


'Revenge Was His Promise'
Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS
Inconsolable after Godhra, the VHP Ahmedabad chief had Modi's word that everything would be taken care of.
TEHELKA: I wanted to know… about Narendra Modi… what were his first words [after the Godhra train incident]? What did he tell all of you?...
Rajendra Vyas: He first said that we would take revenge… the same thing I myself had said publicly… I hadn't even eaten anything then… Hadn't even had a drop of water… I was in such a rage that so many people had died, tears were flowing from my eyes… but when I started using my strength… started abusing… he [Modi] said, Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of… What did he mean when he said that everything would be taken care of?… All those who were meant to understand, understood…

'His Rage Was Great'
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard. The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard Ramesh Dave.
Ramesh Dave: We went to the [VHP] office that night… the atmosphere was very disturbing… Everybody felt that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support…
TEHELKA: What was his reaction when he reached Godhra?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He was in a rage… He's been with the Sangh from childhood… His anger was such… he didn't come out into the open then but the police machinery was turned totally ineffective…



'He Has Done What No CM Ever Has'
Transcript: HARESH BHATT
A Bajrang Dal leader in 2002, Bhatt cannot fathom the opposition to his icon.
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi's reaction when the Godhra incident happened?
Haresh Bhatt: I can't tell you this… but I can say it was favourable… because of the understanding we shared at that time…
TEHELKA: Tell me something… Did he…
Bhatt: I can't give a statement... But what he did, no chief minister has ever done …
TEHELKA: I won't quote it anywhere…For that matter… I am not even going to quote you
Bhatt: He had given us three days… to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that… He said this openly...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt…
TEHELKA: It stopped after three days… Even the army was called in.
Bhatt: All the forces came… We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days...
TEHELKA: Did he say that?
Bhatt: Yes… That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do…
TEHELKA: Did he speak to you?
Bhatt: I told you that we were at the meeting.
Bhatt: He had to run the government... the trouble he is facing now... there are several cases being re-opened... people are rebelling against him...
TEHELKA: People in the BJP are revolting against him...
Bhatt: People in the BJP… whatever he has done has made him a larger-than-life figure and the other politicians cannot bear to see that



Clinical Genocide
There were the cool strategists — leaders, officials, ideologues. And then there were the foot soldiers, who raped, killed and looted.
THERE WAS no spontaneity to what happened in Gujarat post- Godhra. This was no uncontrived, unplanned, unprompted communal violence. This was a program. This was genocide.
In a planned, coldly strategic manner, Muslim neighbourhoods across both urban and rural Gujarat were targeted. Large sections of Hindus were united under a single objective: to kill Muslims, wherever and by whatever means, preferably by first stabbing and mutilating them, and then by setting on fire what remained, whether dead or alive. During the course of the TEHELKA sting, many accused said they preferred burning Muslims alive over other forms of death since cremation is considered unacceptable in Islam.


GUJARAT KILLERS BARE ALL
'MUSLIMS DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE'
'THE IDEA CAME FROM MODI HIMSELF'
We Dragged Them Out Of Their Houses'
WITHIN HOURS of the tragedy on board the Sabarmati Express, the BJP and its affiliates — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bajrang Dal — started preparations for one of the worst acts of genocide in the history of India. On February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express fire, Ahmedabad witnessed mass killings of the most horrific nature. Armed saffron cadres roamed the streets, burning, looting, raping and killing Muslims at will. The neighbourhood that bled most was Naroda, a locality on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims.
In a most systematic manner, the BJP, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal formed an execution squad that carried out a pogrom from 10 in the morning of February 28 till after well past dark. Apart from firearms, tridents and swords, everything that could conceivably be turned into a weapon at short notice — from bricks to gas cylinders to diesel tankers — was unleashed on an entire neighbourhood of Muslims. Most victims were burnt alive. Before being set on fire, many were stabbed, raped and hacked apart.
Right through the massacre, the cellphones of the rioters were ringing constantly, with death scores being shared at regular intervals. By sundown, Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon, the Muslim neighbourhoods in the area, had been reduced to a vast wasteland of death. Sliced up like vegetables, burnt like charcoal and, bearing the testimony of slaughter at its crudest, corpses lay scattered across what had been a lively human settlement barely a few hours before.
Tehelka.com made the killers and conspirators of anti-Muslim Gujarat carnage talk before hidden camera in a five-month investigation:
Here are the transcripts that put India to shame:
Conspirators & Rioters
'After Killing Them, I Felt Like Maharana Pratap'
Transcript: BABU BAJRANGI
Neither loot nor rape, this Bajrang Dal leader had only murder on his mind
Bajrangi: My role was as follows: I was the first to start the [Naroda] Patiya operation… We and the local residents were all together. Patiya is just half a kilometre away from my home… I had gone to Godhra when it happened… I could not bear what I saw… The next day, we gave them a fitting reply…
TEHELKA: What were you unable to tolerate in Godhra?
Bajrangi: Any person who saw the Godhra kaand [massacre] would have felt like just killing them at once, hacking them apart… that's how it was…
TEHELKA: You were there?
Bajrangi: Yes, yes, I was with them… So the Godhra kaand happened and after what I saw, I just came back to Naroda and we took revenge.
TEHELKA: How could you organize it all in such short time?
Bajrangi: Little time… We organized everything that night itself… We mobilised a team of 29 or 30 people… Those who had guns, we went to them that night itself and told them to give us their guns… If anyone refused, I told them I would shoot them the next day, even if they were Hindu… So people agreed to part with whatever cartridges and guns they had… In this way, we collected 23 guns. But nobody died of gunshots… What happened was this: we chased them and were able to scare them into a huge khadda [pit]. There we surrounded them and finished everything off… Then, at 7 o'clock, we announced…
TEHELKA: This was in Patiya? That's what it's called, isn't it?
Bajrangi: Yes, yes, Patiya.
TEHELKA: Please describe the area.
Bajrangi: In Patiya, there is an ST [State Transport] workshop with a huge wall beside it; next to this wall, Patiya begins… Opposite Patiya, there is a masjid and beside it is a sprawling khadda… That's where we killed them all… At 7 o'clock, I called the home minister and also Jaideepbhai [Jaideep Patel, VHP general secretary] and told them how many people had been killed and said that things were now in their hands… I don't know if they did anything, though… At 2.30 in the morning, an FIR was lodged against me… The FIR said I was there… the police commissioner even issued orders to shoot me at sight…
TEHELKA: Who, Narendrabhai?
Bajrangi: The commissioner ordered…
TEHELKA: You were in touch only with Jaideepbhai?
Bajrangi: Only Jaideep was talking to me from the VHP.
TEHELKA: The day the Muslims were killed…
Bajrangi: I spoke to Jaideepbhai 11 or 12 times… aur humne tabiyat se kaata… Haldighati bana di thi [and we killed at will, turned the place into Haldighati]… And I am proud of it, if I get another chance, I will kill even more…
TEHELKA: Where was Jaideepbhai camping then?
Bajrangi: Jaideepbhai was sitting at Dhanwantri, which is Pravinbhai's dispensary, he was there… in Bapunagar… There he was and I didn't even tell him that we were going to do this… In Naroda and Naroda Patiya, we didn't spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we set them on fire and killed them… That's what we did… Up till then, they didn't know what was happening; when they got to hear of how many had been killed, they got scared…
Bajrangi: There is a distance of about half a kilometre between Naroda [Patiya] and Naroda Gaon... We did a lot at both places… must have butchered not less than… Then we dumped the corpses into a well… At first, I didn't talk [This was TEHELKA's fourth meeting with him.] I thought… Many journalists and all kinds of people and come ask me if I was in the Patiya incident… I tell them I was not involved, I was quite far away admitted in a hospital…
TEHELKA: Do you know Gordhan Zadaphia has revolted?… During the Patiya massacre, what did he say when you spoke to him?
Bajrangi: I spoke to Gordhan Zadaphia… I told him everything that had happened… He told me to leave Gujarat and go into hiding… I asked what he meant, but he told me to run away and to not ever say anywhere that we had talked…
TEHELKA: Tell us how it was all done… revolvers… cylinders…
Bajrangi: The cylinders were theirs [the Muslims']… Whichever house we entered, we just grabbed the cylinder and fired at it, and, dhadak, they exploded… We had guns in any case… I can't tell you what a good time it was… But four of our activists died in it… No hearing took place even in that…
TEHELKA: Did you climb to the top of a masjid and tie a pig there?
Bajrangi:We rammed an entire tanker into it… the tanker was fully laden… We rammed that tanker inside…
TEHELKA: It was a petrol tanker, no?
Bajrangi: It was diesel… We drove a whole diesel tanker in and then set [the mosque] on fire…
TEHELKA: Meaning, it was the tanker explosion which set Patiya on fire?
Bajrangi: In the masjid…
TEHELKA: In the masjid…
Bajrangi: As for the rest of it, I was in charge at the time… Whatever I wanted to do, I did…
TEHELKA: At the pit, was oil… Those people had gathered there…
Bajrangi: It was a huge pit… You could enter it from one side but you couldn't climb out at the other end… They were all there together… They started clinging to each other… Even while they were dying, they told each other, you die too, what are you going to be saved for, you die too… so the number of deaths increased.
TEHELKA: Then people poured oil in…
Bajrangi: Oil and burning tyres…
TEHELKA: Where did the oil come from?
Bajrangi: Oh that… We had lots of material with us… we filled lots of jerrycans in advance… From the petrol pump, the night before… Petrol pump owners gave us petrol and diesel for free…
TEHELKA: Muslims were hacked to pieces…
Bajrangi: Hacked, burnt, set on fire, many things were done… many… We believe in setting them on fire because these bastards say they don't want to be cremated, they're afraid of it, they say this and that will happen to them… I have just one wish… one last wish…. Let me be sentenced to death… I don't want to be incarcerated… I don't care if I'm hanged… Give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura [a Muslim dominated area], where seven or eight lakh of these people stay… I will finish them off … Let a few more of them die… At least 25-50,000 should die…
TEHELKA: How many witnesses have testified against you?
Bajrangi: Fourteen Muslims and 16 policemen… Out of the 14 Muslims, some have moved to Juhapura… They've left Patiya, they don't have the guts to stay there, defying us… The rest have gone to Karnataka… They got money after all, Rs 7 lakh each… Narendrabhai never said how much they would be given… He announced [the compensation package] then gave out cheques of Rs 20,000 each and that's where things got stuck… Afterwards, he gave nothing to anyone… But then the Central government supported them…
TEHELKA: In other words, the way [you] have killed will go down in history.
Bajrangi: Arrey hamari FIR me likha gaya hai… ek woh pregnant thi, usko to humne chir diya thha b*******d sala… Unko dikhaya ki kya hota hai… ki hum log ko tumne maara to hum tumko kya pratikaar de sakte hain… hum khichdi kadhi wale nahin hai [It has been written in my FIR… there was this pregnant woman, I slit her open, sisterf****r… Showed them what's what… what kind of revenge we can take if our people are killed… I am no feeble rice-eater]… didn't spare anyone… they shouldn't even be allowed to breed… I say that even today… Whoever they are, women, children, whoever… Nothing to be done with them but cut them down. Thrash them, slash them, burn the bastards… Hindus can be bad… Hindus can be bad, and I'm saying that because, as I see it, Hindus are as wicked as those people are… Many of them wasted time looting… Arrey, [the idea is] don't keep them alive at all, after that everything is ours…
TEHELKA: And some people also raped…
Bajrangi: No, there were no rapes…
TEHELKA: One or two Chharas may have…
Bajrangi: If some Chharas took some women, that's a different matter… We were marching in groups… There was no place to rape anyone there… Everyone was on a killing spree… we were killing, hacking… There were lanes where we had to face Muslims… there would be a confrontation, they'd fight back with all their strength…The moment we'd killed a few, we'd move on… In this melée, if some girl was trying to run away and if a Chhara caught her, then that's another matter… That day, it was like what happened between Pakistan and India… There were bodies everywhere… it was a sight to be seen, but it wasn't something to be filmed, in case it got into someone's hands… There was a video-wala there, some mediawala, we set him on fire too… Lots of those miyas [Muslims] deceived us… They'd chant Jai Mata Di and get away... that happened too… they'd put tilaks on their foreheads and shout Jai Shri Ram, Jai Mata Di….
TEHELKA: Tell me how that SRPF [State Reserve Police Force] man saved people?
Bajrangi: There was just one Muslim… some big SRP man… Sayeed…
TEHELKA: He was an officer...
Bajrangi: Yes, he was… All this cutting and killing happened behind the SRP camp… The ones who weren't in the pit, they ran and got into the SRP compound… The SRP jawans there were driving them away… when the officer came in his vehicle and said take everyone inside… He was in command… an officer… So, lots of people were saved this way… at least 500 were rescued… Otherwise would they have all gone too… The officer was also fired at… He is also a witness against me…
TEHELKA: But then Narendrabhai promoted him and…
Bajrangi: Silenced him… So, there was good work done in Patiya. Today too I am fighting against Muslims and will continue to do so… I have nothing to do with politics… What I say is this: the VHP is an organisation… a Hindu organisation… Our politics should be limited to killing Muslims, beating them up…
TEHELKA: How do you feel after you have killed Muslims…
Bajrangi: Maza aata hai na, saheb [I enjoy it]… I came back after I killed them them, called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap… I'd heard stories about him, but that day I did what he did myself.


'I Got A Call Saying, What's This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping?
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
Spurred on by Modi's statement in Godhra, Dave and other VHP men set about picking out targets and killing them one by one.
Dave: Whatever happened [at Godhra], happened for the best… And, in any case, Rajendrabhai [Vyas] was in charge of the Godhra case…
TEHELKA: He was the incharge of the train…yes…
Dave: I was with him too as the deputy incharge…
TEHELKA: Were you on the train? Dave: No, I didn't go… I am a diabetic and so I stayed back… Then around 9.30, I got a call from there, informing me of what had happened…
TEHELKA: Rajendrabhai called you up?
Dave: Rajendrabhai called up… he asked me what now… I said don't worry… I will reach Godhra by 12 o'clock… Then he said there was no need to come to Godhra… some other people were already on their way… but the situation was out of control there and it had to be handled… I told him not to worry… and then he started crying… Rajendrabhai… he said 60 of our people had died… that we were playing a one-day…
TEHELKA: He told me that too…
Dave: One day khelna hai… 600 ko… maine bola koi tension mat lo, bhagwan ki kripa hai, ho jayega jo bhi hone wala hai… phir yahan laashein wagairah laayi… Phir main bhi raat ko gaya… drishya dekh kar bada… [We have to play a one-day… 600 have to be… I told him not to worry, whatever has to be done will be done by God's grace… later on, the dead were brought here… I also went there that night… the scene was…
TEHELKA: I saw the pictures… in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office…
Dave: In the office… We went to the office at night… the atmosphere there was very disturbing… everybody had the same reaction… what all of them felt was that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support at that time…
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi's reaction when he reached Godhra and when he returned?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He himself was in a rage… after all, he has been a swayamsevak with the Sangh right from childhood…his anger was such… he himself did not come out into the open then but the police and all had turned totally ineffective at that time… The next day, we took out a funeral procession for the dead at 10.30… from the VHP office… these are things that have never been told… What actually happened was that I got a call at around quarter to eleven saying Rameshbhai what is this… all of Gujarat is sleeping… what is to be done… doesn't matter… you will get a reaction from my side right now… At quarter to eleven, we went to a spot there… There a shootout took place… from there the whole of Gujarat caught on… but the spot [where it started] was Dariyapur…
Dave: This is Kandhariapur… Hindus are gradually decreasing here… Muslims are more in number…
TEHELKA: They are increasing…
Dave: This is our border… All the area behind this house is his [Abdul Latif 's]… At the time of the Godhra massacre, rioting started here at around 11 o'clock… We fought here till the next 11 o'clock…
TEHELKA: Was there firing from their side too?
Dave: They did not… This time, everyone was on the Hindus' side… At that time, I was given charge of Madhopura… It is very nearby… there were almost 123 riot-related cases there… Of these, around 15 were under Section 302… you understand this… What happened was, we targeted and killed all those who had been in our sights for the past 20-25 years…
Dave: We showed the horrific video we had shot [at Godhra] to people… What happens is… there's a certain fury… A dormant volcano erupted all of a sudden… Those people did suffer a lot of damage… Our plan was to burn Godhra down to the ground… to burn all these Musalman-wusalmans… but then, to get everyone together here… to handle the situation…
TEHELKA: And all the VVIPs had also started visiting by then… Was there retaliation in Kalupur?
Dave: Yes we took revenge… to a great extent… meaning zabardast.
TEHELKA: How many were killed?
Dave: Now approximately, here in the interiors, I'd say only around 60-70… But the kind of revenge there was… What these people did in Kalupur and Dariyapur… they have three areas… four areas… Juhapura, Shahpur, Dariyapur and Kalupur… What they would do is they'd riot all over the place, and then they would sneak back here to hide…
TEHELKA: I had such an open conversation that Hareshbhai told me… Hareshbhai Bhatt's factory… how bombs were made in his cracker factory…
Dave: Yes they were made… here then… If we weren't here, we would be outside… Ghanshyam Patel used to call up people and control everything...
TEHELKA: So when the riots started in Dariyapur and Kalupur, did you people have any weapons or not?
Dave: Some had already come…
TEHELKA: But Hindus don't keep weapons…
Dave: They don't have weapons, but our brother got us revolvers and that's how we would get by… and this is not the age of swords, anyway… So that is all one wants for weapons…
TEHELKA: So how many did he get? Two or three… the stand wala?
Dave: No, they were about 8 or 10
TEHELKA: Can I meet our activists [from the Sangh] who had been jailed but are now released? Just one or two?
Dave: There was one by the name of Yogi… Have you met Harshadbhai… Harshadbhai Giletwala?
TEHELKA: Not yet, Rajendrabhai gave me his name a while ago… but I haven't met him yet…
Dave: He got burnt in that case… while setting that hotel on fire… He had 75 percent burns…
TEHELKA: Which hotel? Best Bakery is in Baroda…
Dave: No, no, it's this one…
Dave's wife: It was a Muslim hotel…
TEHELKA: Was it in Kalupur?
Dave: No no… it is on that side, near Narayan Pura…
TEHELKA: Were some Muslims also killed?
Dave: One died…
TEHELKA: So Harshadbhai sustained 75 percent burns…
Dave: If you meet him now, he looks just the same… He sustained 75 percent injuries… it wasn't easy saving him… the mrityunjay was chanted one lakh twenty five thousand times… Rs 4-5 lakh were also spent…
TEHELKA: Can I meet someone other than him… Can I meet the person who runs the stand?
Dave: No, he is out of town somewhere… And he won't talk about it all now… Actually… like he told me, in his business, he has to deal with both Hindus and Muslims…
TEHELKA: Was an FIR lodged against him?
Dave: It was lodged before the riots… It was in a case of the murder of a Muslim, in which he was arrested…
TEHELKA: No, after Godhra…
Dave: No… Not after Godhra… The main ones here… what happened was that nobody fought here… they used to go away from this place… all the bootleggers from Dariyapur and Kalupur used to go elsewhere to fight…
TEHELKA: What was the strategy followed? Was there a fixed strategy or was it like a sort of hit-and run?
Dave: No, the strategy was that the main ones…
TEHELKA: The ones who used to harass… the goons…
Dave: They were the ones in particular whom we had to put straight… This goes on even today…
TEHELKA: Like who? Can I get some names?
Dave: I don't remember the names of those Muslims… but the ones who were there… they were handpicked and killed one by one. There was one Katki in Madhopura… whenever a riot took place, he was the first to come out… That day we targeted him and killed him. There were two advantages to that… it boosted the morale of the Hindus… and damaged the morale of the Muslims…
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have any meeting the day Godhra happened? Was any strategy planned? Some common strategy must have been made by you people?
Dave: No, it happened but… At that time, the atmosphere was also very volatile… It could have been used for the sangathan… the sangathan has grown because of that… there was a time when…
TEHELKA: No, like the Godhra massacre happened on the 27th… did our leaders, who were there in Ahmedabad that day, get in touch with each other and plan out some strategy?
Dave: It happened…
TEHELKA: Or was it that they couldn't meet because of the curfew…
Dave: No even if curfew is imposed nowadays, we can go out… There are lanes that let you do that… and even if there aren't any such, we set out on the roads themselves. Meetings did happen… eight to ten meetings at various places… The strategy was that since we had to take revenge, we should show them at one go and then there would be peace for the next ten or so years…




'They Hacked Him Bit By Bit, Then Burnt Him Alive'
Transcript: MADAN CHAWAL
This Gulbarg accused was part of the team that kicked former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri to the ground and killed him.
Chawal: I was there that day… all day, I ran with them… When they brought Jafri saheb, I was standing there itself… they held him down, kicked him in the back… they meant to chop him up…
TEHELKA: Describe it all in detail… Where did it begin?
Chawal: I was at my shop when the VHP people came around 8.30-9 o'clock to get the shops to down shutters. Around 9-9.30, a shop was set ablaze right in front of mine. That's when I realized it had started…
TEHELKA:Was it a Muslim's shop?
Chawal: Yes, it was. People started running once it started. Papa told me to close my shop… even though it was my region, my area, and nobody would have said anything even if my shop had stayed open… Nobody spoke when they told them to close the shops… Then I gestured with my hands to say it wouldn't look nice, it was a matter of religion and hence it was all the more important to close the shops… My father said close it for today, let's go home… My father, the others, all of us went home…Then around 10.30 or 11, I went out… The moment I did so, I joined the mob… the ruckus continued all the time I was with the crowd… it went on for at least two and a half hours …
TEHELKA: Who was leading the mob?
Chawal: Most people had joined the mob. The moment that shop was set on fire, everyone started gathering there.
TEHELKA:Were the VHP people also part of the mob?
Chawal: All of them.
TEHELKA: Who were there from the VHP?
Chawal: At that time, I didn't know all the leaders… I never had any contacts since I'm from a business background and I knew people only from that field… Later, though, when I met Atul-bhai, I remembered he was there too…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid was there…
Chawal: Atul Vaid was there, then there's one Bharatbhai Teli, he was also there. These boys…these big ones… they came to get me out of jail, it was then that I met them… they would come to the police station… Although they never came to the Central jail… they would look at me when they would come to the station … That was when I began realising that they were also there… And I used to wonder why I had been arrested while their names were dropped… Why didn't Atul
Vaid and Bharat Teli's names come up when mine did?… I didn't give it too much importance, though, since these people could have helped me leave jail or do something else for me. That is why I never opened my mouth, never dropped a word anywhere about these people being there too… nobody ever said anything about it… not even the 40 boys who were inside jail…
TEHELKA: Everybody knew it…
Chawal: They knew it…We would never talk about what exactly happened… In jail, we would say that we didn't know anything about it… that we'd just been trapped … I was recorded in the first chargesheet as having used kerosene to lit a fire… In that chargesheet I had been shot around 5.30-6.00 in the evening when Erda saheb said…
TEHELKA: Who shot you?
Chawal: Erda saheb said that…that whole region… Didn't I show you the place?
TEHELKA: Yes.
Chawal: I was just standing around… some eight to 15 people were there near him… We asked, saheb, what are you doing, why are you saving them?
TEHELKA: You said this to Erda…
Chawal: The public… we were eight to 15 people… everyone asked him 'What are you doing?'
TEHELKA: You asked him where he was taking the Muslims?
Chawal:We asked him where he was taking them… then he told us what he was doing…
TEHELKA: What did he say?
Chawal: He said, do this… when the vehicle [in which the Muslims were] comes this way, our constable [accompanying the vehicle] will run away… set the vehicle on fire… The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone… Poori picture yahin khatam ho jayegi [it will be "The End" here itself]… When he said this, the Bagri community thought that they were taking people who could turn witness… [they feared] that he might get them in trouble… They started pelting stones at Erda saheb… and when one of them hit him, I ran away. He took out his revolver… he was behind me… he yelled at me and told me stop… When I tried to pull my nephew along with me while I was escaping, he shot at me…
TEHELKA: Erda saheb shot you?… Was it by mistake…
Chawal: It was by mistake… it was shot at my hand… My hand was injured but none of the clinics were open, all of them were closed… All the hospital at that time… Then I went to the Civil Hospital… I wasn't aware about things like these because I had never been part of anything like this before… That day, I ended up getting my real name written in the hospital records…
TEHELKA: Then how did you kill Jafri that morning?
Chawal: Jafri…Well, it's like when those people caught him, I kicked him in the back and they pulled him away… The moment they pulled him away…
TEHELKA: You kicked Jafri?
Chawal: Kicked him…
TEHELKA: He fell down…
Chawal: Gira… woh nahi… khaich... unke haath me tha, na… Paanchchheh jan pakad liye the, phir usko jaise pakad ke khada rakha phir logon mein kisi ne talwar maari… haath kate… haath kaat ke phir pair kaate… phir na sab kaat dala… phir tukde kar ke phir lakda jo lagaye the, lakde uspe rakh ke phir jala daala… zinda jala daala… [Fell down… not that… He was pulled by his hand… Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword… chopped off his hand, then his legs… chopped off all his organs… after cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they'd piled and set it on fire… burnt him alive…]
TEHELKA: So when you people were cutting up Jafri's body, didn't Erda come to save him?
Chawal: No one did anything… At that time, Erda saheb wasn't even there… He had gone to Meghaninagar with his vehicle… He didn't know they were chopping Jafri saheb… All this happened around 1 or 1.30.
TEHELKA: But did the rest of Jafri's family manage to escape?
Chawal: No they didn't… His wife was the only one saved… She disguised herself as a Hindu…
TEHELKA: But some of his daughters were saved?
Chawal: Nobody at the place escaped, none of his family… The only ones who did were the ones who weren't there… His wife said that she was a maid… a Hindu, living in the Patrewali Chawl that is behind… Why do you want to kill me [she said], I'm just a servant. She was dressed like a Hindu… well dressed…
TEHELKA: She escaped because you didn't recognise her?
Chawal: I had never met her because there was never a need to go and meet them… I never had any relations with them…
TEHELKA: How big is Gulbarg society…Do lots of people live there?
Chawal: Lots of them.
TEHELKA: So have people come back to live at this place?
Chawal: Nobody has come back… it's closed now… it's like a jail… Nobody came back to it…
TEHELKA: But some people were saved there that evening?…
Chawal: Some 40 people ran away… some of them had left before…
TEHELKA: So how did you enter Gulbarg?
Chawal: People got gas cylinders from their homes… They kept them on the society's outer walls… then they got pipes from the bakery where bread and so on are made and they opened the cylinders with them. Then they went far and made a khupda [cloth torch] and threw the cylinders at the wall… The cylinders exploded and the wall broke. Then we got inside…
TEHELKA: Was the wall too high?
Chawal: Too much… it was no two ft wall… It must have been around 15-20 feet high…On top of it, there was a barbed wire fence too…
TEHELKA: So the wall broke with just one or two cylinders?
Chawal: Two cylinders… one was thrown there and the other one in the front… The wall would obviously have broken from the cylinders… Cylinders are heavy…
TEHELKA: So the houses inside caught fire?
Chawal: People used the residents'own things to burn their houses… nobody needed to get anything from outside… their own things were used to burn them…
TEHELKA: The same thing happened in Patiya too…
Chawal: The same happened in Patiya…


'Parishad People Got Me Out On Bail'
Transcript: PRAHLAD RAJU
Raju, accused in the Gulbarg case, had to spend six months in jail. But it was quite comfortable, he says
TEHELKA: How many months did you spend in jail?
Prahlad Raju: I was there for six and-a-half months. …
TEHELKA: What help did the VHP provide you with during that time?
Raju: They delivered goods at my home.
TEHELKA: Rations?
Raju: I have two kids. They were in school… I had talked to VHP people who used to come to the courts on hearing dates. They told me there was no need to pay the school fees and that they would talk to the school authorities… They did go to the school, but they didn't pay the fees… When I came back after six-and-a-half months, I found I had to pay the entire fees for both kids at one go.
TEHELKA: Had they told you they would pay the fees?
Raju: Yeah…they had gone to the school too…
TEHELKA: Who went there from the VHP?
Raju: Bharatbhai Teli
TEHELKA: Bharatbhai Teli went there… and did nothing.
Raju: Nothing…
TEHELKA: The day this Gulbarg thing happened… were VHP people with you?
Raju: They were… At 8:30, they started from Meghaninagar … They were closing down shops… and banding together… I joined them at 7:30. I was acquainted with Atulbhai…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid?
Raju: He said everybody was to move together…
TEHELKA: Who said this… Atul Vaid?
Raju: Yes.
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid said this or Bharat Teli?
Raju: Atul Vaid…
TEHELKA: Atul Vaid told you to move together…
Raju: Move together…
TEHELKA: From Meghaninagar ….
Raju: From there, we all moved together…
TEHELKA: Where?
Raju: Towards Gulbarg … We were closing down shops and people were joining us…
TEHELKA: People kept multiplying…
Raju: Kept multiplying …
TEHELKA: What happened after you reached Gulbarg?
Raju: Then the stone pelting started. When the other side started firing at us, we went back to our homes… I used to live in a Muslim locality. I got my kids out.
TEHELKA: You left the kids home?
Raju: It's the same way from Gulbarg to my house. We were going from the back way… where there is a railway track… I was hit on my leg.
TEHELKA: Your leg was hurt… You were hit by stone?
Raju: No… A charra [small pellet] hit me.
TEHELKA: Then… you left the kids at home…
Raju: After leaving the kids, I went to hospital…
TEHELKA: From there you went to hospital…
Raju: I left the place at one o' clock…
TEHELKA: The hospital?
Raju: No, the area… I mean Gulbarg… I came back from the Civil Hospital at five. At that time, they were being taken away…
TEHELKA: Dead bodies?
Raju: No… those who survived...
TEHELKA: They were being taken…
Raju: Dead bodies were taken away in the night… first at 11 o' clock and then a second batch in the morning.
TEHELKA: You didn't do anything there at that time?
Raju: At that time, there was stone pelting. That was all that happened.
TEHELKA: You were there only during the stone pelting….
Raju: I could not get inside…
TEHELKA: Then who went inside Gulbarg?
Raju: I don't know who were present inside. But they were not local people.
TEHELKA: They were from outside… but were there any Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?
Raju: Yes…there were …
TEHELKA: Were there any people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh?
Raju: They were carrying trishuls… Bajrang Dal…
TEHELKA: So it was Bajrang Dal people who went inside?
Raju: [nods his head in confirmation]
TEHELKA: Everybody was carrying a trishul.
Raju: Yeah..Carrying trishuls…
TEHELKA: So… where did the police pick you up from?
Raju: My name was there.
TEHELKA: You were picked up on the second day itself?
Raju: No, they did not pick me up. There was an inquiry so we left that place. Then I met these people… Chetanbhai Shah [public prosecutor]. He told me to get ready to leave the place for three or four months. He said, leave home for a month. I did that but the Crime Branch people started giving me trouble. Then I got myself arrested. Then they treated me well.
TEHELKA: The Crime Branch…
Raju: People from the Crime Branch behaved very nicely with us. We felt quite at home. Our family members used to come to meet us…
TEHELKA: And did you spend your own money on your bail?
Raju: No, the Parishad people did that.
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's people bail you out?
Raju: [nods his head in the affirmative] Nineteen people were released simultaneously…


'We Dragged Them Out Of Their Houses'
Transcript: MANGILAL JAIN
Jain joined in the slaughter which began as soon as Inspector Erda told the mob at Gulbarg that it had three hours.
TEHELKA: What was the name of that inspector you were talking about.
Mangilal Jain: Erda…
TEHELKA: Erda…what did he do?
Jain: He supported us… The police kept away from public that day.
TEHELKA: Kept away from Muslims?
Jain: Public… kept away from Hindus… They [the police] told us that everything should be finished within 2-3 hours.
TEHELKA: That means they gave you 2-3 hours …
Jain: To finish…
TEHELKA: Finish everything…
Jain: This was happening across all of Ahmedabad. [It was understood] no outsider would come. Even reinforcements weren't going to come… the forces wouldn't get there till evening… so all the work should be done.
TEHELKA: He told you to do it all in two to three hours…
Jain: He [Erda] said it and the mob went berserk. Some started looting. Others started killing… Someone dragged a man out and hacked him down and burned him… A lot of this kind of stuff happened…
TEHELKA: So… did only people from the society get killed or were there other Muslims also?
Jain: No sir… people from outside also got killed. There are Muslims living on the streets all around the society… they are poor people… these are rich people [indicating those who lived in Gulbarg society]… These street dwellers are labourers, mechanics and factory workers… Whenever the situation would get tense, Ehsan Jafri would call everyone in. There was a masjid inside… and every year he would arrange for them to be fed. Whenever a riot broke out, all these people would take shelter inside.… He was very capable. He would make just one call and the police would land up. There was always an SRP [State Reserve Police Force] post at this place. So people would feel safe there.
TEHELKA: So that day you were just one of the crowd… raising the slogan of Jai Shri Ram…
Jain: Just chanting Jai Shri Ram was giving people an adrenaline rush. I was there with a lot of friends, sir, Jai Shri Ram.…
TEHELKA: So who were our people who took part in the killing?
Jain: Look, sir... there were a lot of faces whom I didn't know at all… Bharat Teli, Atul Vaid and many other people were there. They came from far away places like Bapu Nagar and Meghaninagar…
TEHELKA: Bharat Teli and Atul Vaid did a lot of fighting?
Jain: These were the people in groups sir… there were a lot of young people with them… that day, there was a mob of 50,000 people… How could we know who was who? These are the kinds of people who have a lot of exuberance, those who are non-vegetarian. Those are the people who could be so cruel.
TEHELKA: So… how did we chop off these Muslims?
Jain: They were dragged out of their houses. Someone cut them down… another set them ablaze. Fire was already there… petrol.
TEHELKA: So petrol was available…
Jain: Petrol and kerosene were brought… by these people. They came in the vehicles. [They said] Come with us… there is riot… our Hindu brothers are being attacked… come…
TEHELKA: These were our Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?
Jain: Yes… They came in huge numbers… in vehicles… in whatever mode of transport they could get… they surrounded everything and that Lanka was completely destroyed… There were all the people from the neighbourhoods nearby inside… Whoever was seen, was killed. There was a basement… people who took shelter there survived… there were 70-80 of them…
TEHELKA: People hid there?
Jain: Yes, they hid… In the evening, when it was discovered that there were people inside, then they were taken to a safe place… Eighty to ninety people were killed… Ninety must have been killed… but only those whose dead bodies were recovered were reported and could be identified. Many people were reported missing… Jafri's body could not be recovered. He was burnt… nothing of him was found.


'The Idea Came From Modi Himself'
Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT
The chief auditor of MS University, Bhatt reveals the minute planning and mobilisation that went into the attacks.
Dhimant Bhatt: I have two charges… I am chief auditor for the entire university [MSU] as well as chief accounts officer… this is a financial matter… everybody needs funds… this is why it is hectic… I am a staunch Hindu… suppose somebody from the Sangh says we have to promote Hindu fundamentalism, I will be the first to volunteer… I will go and say, brothers, put the Sangh's lathis aside and pick up AK-56s … pick up AK-56s because if you have to develop Hinduism, it is clear who the enemies are… There are two who are against Hinduism… Muslims, who are open… but the Christians… they are like a bacterial virus … and there's a third, the Communists, who are developing now… red waale… If you have to fight them, you need power and that power will not come from the lathi… only the bullet will do… we go to RSS shakhas … pick up the lathi and use it… All that is fine but now they should be replaced with AKs and a Hindu brigade should be formed…
Bhatt: After Godhra, there was this reaction and a certain climate was created in the Parivar by the top leaders, meaning the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the BJP and the Durga Vahini… and in that we had Narendra Modi's support… Let people say what they like, [we had] support in the sense that if Hindus are going to be burnt like this… if conspiracies are going to be hatched to burn Hindus… they wanted to burn the whole train [the Sabarmati Express]… and now if we don't do anything, if we don't generate an adequate reaction, another train will be set on fire…. This was the idea, the thought that came from him [Modi]… I was present in the meeting…
TEHELKA: Where, sir…
Bhatt: It was held in Baroda itself…at a secret place…
TEHELKA: After Godhra …
Bhatt: Immediately after. The same day as Godhra… there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda… on what action we were to take… everybody was present … the BJP, the RSS, the Parishad… it was decided that we would not take this any longer… if we have the guts, we should react… so everyone felt, unanimously, that since we didn't want to be on the defensive, we should start that night itself…
TEHELKA:Was this a meeting of the top leadership or of local leaders or of the ground workers?
Bhatt: Actually it was the local leaders… The message came from the top leaders… the local leaders implemented it and the workers spread it…
TEHELKA: So how many people were present at that meeting?
Bhatt: About 65 to 70.
TEHELKA: 65 to 70?
Bhatt: All key persons of Baroda.
TEHELKA: From different saffron organisations?
Bhatt: In Ahmedabad, there were two persons… I won't tell you the place… that is secret… it is the Parivar's… In Ahmedabad, the party has a farmhouse… we started… supplying everything… made a plan… If the police makes arrests, then [we were to secure] the release [of those in custody]. That night, we sat up and made a panel of advocates… If Hindus were injured, then how to take them to hospitals… how we were to help… We made the whole plan… to start a Hindu jehad… we were successful in Gujarat… We were thinking what should we do… so we got three-foot long iron rods… iron bars, and if the cadre was from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… In other words, we made a plan and supplied the samaan [weapons]… it was very necessary… After we supplied the samaan, the Hindus got very motivated… Until Godhra happened, the upper castes would never come out… Baniyas… Patels… they would never come out… But we mobilized them… told them that we had prepared teams from the police and amongst advocates… that if they went to jail, we would get them released…
TEHELKA: And that strategy worked…
Bhatt: That strategy worked very nicely… in my [housing] society, even the women started coming out… Then we devised a strategy of alerting everyone… There used to be curfew after dark, so I would come out at night and clank some utensils — tan tan tan — I did that at two in the morning and within minutes, 500 people had gathered with their lathis asking, what is it, what is it… this awareness had been created in Baroda… and it was same in Godhra and in Ahmedabad…
TEHELKA: Baroda and Ahmedabad were spearheading this campaign…
Bhatt: Then in my area… have you heard of the name Bandukwala?…
TEHELKA: The professor…
Bhatt: He's retired… he is a Muslim… He is a Bohra Muslim… a doctor in physics, a man of science… Among Muslims, the educated ones are more fundamentalist… And among Hindus, the educated ones are more liberal…
Bhatt: Bandukwala is now retired from university service… so now he is free… He is running some organisation…
TEHELKA: But during the riots, did he organise some mob?
Bhatt: During the riots… His bungalow was just in front of my society… exactly in front of my society… We burnt his bungalow down completely… just broke it down and burnt it… He ran away and after that we damaged it quite a bit… A lot of Hindus gathered there… There was another government officer called Peerzada… He was also in my area… We burnt his house too… I am telling you very openly… even an FIR was lodged… See, we have done this, so we have done it… We have no regrets, we did it for the Hindus… We started the toofan [the riots] from Baroda, from Shama Road… Panigate… Mandwi… Merani … these are the most sensitive areas… This Peerzada…he was development officer in the panchayat [department] of the government of Gujarat... He was also this type, educated…. He also ran away… Then there was another man in the GSFC… he was also educated, a chemical engineer… We got him to leave too… Because of the Hindu resurgence that has taken place… after Godhra… Hindus have started keeping weapons at home… Their morale has got a boost…
TEHELKA: The Hindus are riding high on confidence …
Bhatt: There is now pride in being a Hindu… Hindus are feeling a sense of pride and the upper castes too have come out now in support of the Parivar…


'It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen'
Transcript: DEEPAK SHAH
A senior Vadodara BJP leader reveals how 'revenge' was planned the very day of the Sabarmati Express incident.
TEHELKA: What time did you reach Baroda [from Godhra]?…
Deepak Shah: We got there at about three, four o clock…
TEHELKA: After admitting the injured to hospital …
Shah: We had gone with a big ambulance… went straight to the hospital… got them admitted… Then we met the Godhra MP, Gopal Singh … met the train collector also… The directives were clearly given to the police… to the MP also … the directives were very clear… that no Hindu is to be arrested now… catch all the Muslims… don't talk to us about balance… "balance" is something we'll do later… Just take the force now and teach them a lesson…
TEHELKA: In Godhra?
Shah: We went to a lot of places… Everybody's views were zabardast [fierce]... Jaideepbhai from the VHP was also there… All our workers had gathered on the road… there was tremendous fury… They seemed to have made up their minds then itself that this time they were not going to spare the Muslims… When we reached Baroda too, it was a curfew-like situation because everyone had come to know through the media of the terrible incident that had happened… The anger was so spontaneous… that even on the way, wherever there was a Muslim shop or house, it was burnt …
TEHELKA: How was it all organized…
Shah: For the next two days in Baroda, everyone just targeted… whoever they could… as many as possible… even in remote areas like Manzarpur... Areas like Alkapuri and Gotri have never even seen stone pelting... such areas which have no history whatsoever of riots… in those areas, people selectively targeted all the Muslim shops and burnt them …
TEHELKA: Were you at the meeting held in Baroda that night?
Shah: Yes… I went for that meeting too… The general sentiment was that if we did not retaliate even after such a big incident and if we just backed down quietly, then they would be encouraged to spread terror… They can do anything… First we gave a bandh call…
TEHELKA: Only VHP people attended the meeting….
Shah: No, no, everybody was there…There were people from the Sangh Parivar… from the Sangathan… the Mandal … you know, people who participate in any big event organized by the VHP… All the youth wings were also invited…
TEHELKA: Fifty to sixty people were there in the meeting …
Shah: The number was higher… around 100–150
TEHELKA: Like in Ahmedabad, where the meeting was held at some guesthouse…
Shah: Yes, it was held here at the Narmada guest house …
TEHELKA: Narmada guesthouse… Did anyone spell out anything specific?
Shah: Everyone expressed their views… [the view was] itihaas me kabhi sakshi na ho aisa hona chahiye [it should be something history has not witnessed)…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me about the strategy… about constituting a team of lawyers …
Shah: Correct… because the police will conduct an inquiry… So [we had to think of] what we would do to protect our people…
TEHELKA: So who were there in the legal team?
Shah: Sanjaybhai Joshi was there… Neeraj Jain was there...
TEHELKA: Rajendra Trivedi was there?
Shah: Rajendra Trivedi was there… Pankaj Chabar …Tushar Vyas…
TEHELKA: Who was used in the attack?
Shah: There are warring communities… the Kharvas… the Baakris… They always come forward at such times… They are meat-eating people … they have the tools and they usually lead from the front… So they were channelized … There were Kahars… A lot of Rabaris were there this time… Bhadris, Parmars and
Marathi-speaking people, who have a lot of passion…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me that a peace committee was formed just to mislead everyone, and that committee moulded rods and pipes and distributed them…
Shah: Whatever was needed was given… After all, it was a battle for faith…

What They Said About Modi
NARENDRA MODI's anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Haresh Bhatt, the then national co-coordinator of the Bajrang Dal, was part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Bhatt says, "He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt."
RAJENDRA VYAS, the VHP's Ahmedabad city president, was consoled by Modi, who said, "Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of."
NOT ONLY DID THE MODI government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail
SINCE THE POLICE were in control all over Gujarat, Modi instructed them to side with the Hindus, thus giving the rioters a free hand for three days until pressure from higher quarters necessitated the calling in of the army
AFTER THE NARODA PATIYA carnage, the chief minister himself went to the site and acknowledged the efforts of the Chhara tribe, who were key participants in the massacre at Naroda Patiya
ARVIND PANDYA, government counsel, is convinced that Modi's strong leadership made the post-Godhra carnage possible



'We Were Blessed, He Told Us'
Transcript: SURESH RICHARD
Modi personally congratulated Richard as he showered praises on the Chhara tribe for a job well done.
Suresh Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… At around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…
TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi…
Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…
TEHELKA: He came out on the road?
Richard: Here, near this house…Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…
TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened…
Richard: The same evening…
TEHELKA: 28 February …
Richard: 28…
TEHELKA: 2002…
Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…
TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o' clock or at 7?
Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots…
TEHELKA: Now, after that day when Narendrabhai Modi visited your home, the day of the Naroda Patiya massacre, has he ever been back here again?
Richard: Never.


'Revenge Was His Promise'
Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS
Inconsolable after Godhra, the VHP Ahmedabad chief had Modi's word that everything would be taken care of.
TEHELKA: I wanted to know… about Narendra Modi… what were his first words [after the Godhra train incident]? What did he tell all of you?...
Rajendra Vyas: He first said that we would take revenge… the same thing I myself had said publicly… I hadn't even eaten anything then… Hadn't even had a drop of water… I was in such a rage that so many people had died, tears were flowing from my eyes… but when I started using my strength… started abusing… he [Modi] said, Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of… What did he mean when he said that everything would be taken care of?… All those who were meant to understand, understood…

'His Rage Was Great'
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard. The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard Ramesh Dave.
Ramesh Dave: We went to the [VHP] office that night… the atmosphere was very disturbing… Everybody felt that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support…
TEHELKA: What was his reaction when he reached Godhra?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He was in a rage… He's been with the Sangh from childhood… His anger was such… he didn't come out into the open then but the police machinery was turned totally ineffective…



'He Has Done What No CM Ever Has'
Transcript: HARESH BHATT
A Bajrang Dal leader in 2002, Bhatt cannot fathom the opposition to his icon.
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi's reaction when the Godhra incident happened?
Haresh Bhatt: I can't tell you this… but I can say it was favourable… because of the understanding we shared at that time…
TEHELKA: Tell me something… Did he…
Bhatt: I can't give a statement... But what he did, no chief minister has ever done …
TEHELKA: I won't quote it anywhere…For that matter… I am not even going to quote you
Bhatt: He had given us three days… to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that… He said this openly...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt…
TEHELKA: It stopped after three days… Even the army was called in.
Bhatt: All the forces came… We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days...
TEHELKA: Did he say that?
Bhatt: Yes… That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do…
TEHELKA: Did he speak to you?
Bhatt: I told you that we were at the meeting.
Bhatt: He had to run the government... the trouble he is facing now... there are several cases being re-opened... people are rebelling against him...
TEHELKA: People in the BJP are revolting against him...
Bhatt: People in the BJP… whatever he has done has made him a larger-than-life figure and the other politicians cannot bear to see that



Clinical Genocide
There were the cool strategists — leaders, officials, ideologues. And then there were the foot soldiers, who raped, killed and looted.
THERE WAS no spontaneity to what happened in Gujarat post- Godhra. This was no uncontrived, unplanned, unprompted communal violence. This was a program. This was genocide.
In a planned, coldly strategic manner, Muslim neighbourhoods across both urban and rural Gujarat were targeted. Large sections of Hindus were united under a single objective: to kill Muslims, wherever and by whatever means, preferably by first stabbing and mutilating them, and then by setting on fire what remained, whether dead or alive. During the course of the TEHELKA sting, many accused said they preferred burning Muslims alive over other forms of death since cremation is considered unacceptable in Islam.