Real Picture Of Gujrat Riots

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 SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 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… ••• Bajrangi: We and the Chharas carried out the Patiya massacre… After that, we all went to jail… People gave us a lot of money after we were jailed… I am rich, so I have no worries, but the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders didn’t care for those who were poor and had no money. Even from jail I was telling them [the VHP] to look after their families, do something for the accused. They provided for them for some four to six months, after that all help was stopped… They had promised to fight our cases in court… but till today, nobody has done a thing… Pravinbhai [Togadia, VHP international general secretary] had promised this openly… and he had also said that if there were any problems at their home or any loss [he would take care of them]… but no one knows where they put all the money they collected… Nobody was given any money… for five to seven months, they gave rations, but nothing apart from that… 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?

Photo: Paras Shah

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 are], 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.

: 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 Bajrangi

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.

‘Nanavati Tried To Prove I Was Behind The Riots’ Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS Vyas was in charge of the karsevaks on the Sabarmati Express. Godhra would remember the lesson, he says JUNE 8, 2007 Vyas: I was in charge of the train in Godhra… TEHELKA: Jaideepbhai told me… Vyas: At that time, people from Aaj Tak had come to me, and I told them this… I said, look, my shoulders are not strong enough to carry the weight of 59 bodies… With deep sorrow, I have to say that we must leave behind those who came with us… We have 300 women with us, that is why we must do this or else we would set all of Godhra on fire… We are not wearing bangles… Anyone who calls himself a Hindu, the young men who have come with us and all the rest in any corner of the world, they must all listen… The Muslims have played a one-day match with us… they have given us a target of 60… we have to win this match at any cost, so don’t stop until you have made 600 runs… This is what I said that day… At that time, Deepak Swaroop was there, the Range officer of Panchmahal, and he told me that what I was doing was not right… that it would not have good consequences… I said so much in the language Muslims use… meaning, I also used some abusive language… Narendrabhai Modi, our chief minister, started laughing… How he has cut them down… It’s because of him that the Muslims from this

side… I live in a Muslim area… this house, this wall belongs to a Muslim… so is that… the whole colony belongs to Muslims… Only this two-foot high door belongs to a Hindu… I live here by dadagiri, by force… TEHELKA: Tell me one thing, you were there with Narendrabhai Modi that day, when the train caught fire in Godhra… What was his first reaction? Vyas:

As chief minister, Narendrabhai couldn’t say ‘Kill all the Muslims’… I could say it publicly because I was from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad… Pravinbhai Togadia can say it… But he [Modi] can’t say it… But it’s like how we say it in Gujarati, Aa khada kaan khada ]to turn a blind eye]… meaning, he gave us a free run to do whatever we wanted since we were already fed up with the Muslims… The police was with us… Please understand what I’m trying to say — the police was on our side, and so was the entire Hindu samaj… Bhai [Modi] was careful about that… or else the police would have been on the other side…. TEHELKA: Yes, if it had been a Congress government… Vyas: No, what I am saying is… things would have gone the opposite way… that’s why the Nanavati people… interviewed me thrice… called me… recorded my statement… they wanted to prove that the riots took place because of me… because I was in charge of it… I am not one to be scared, let them do what they want… TEHELKA: When Godhra happened, how did the Hindus unite? Vyas: Take my case… My daughter- in-law… was brutally attacked… acid was thrown on her, her whole face was burnt… She was hospitalized for 15 days… Look at my house… the iron grills… they tried to set it on fire but we also took revenge… we burnt nine of their houses… How many? TEHELKA: Nine. Vyas: And we murdered four of them… that’s how we silenced them… Whatever charges were framed against me… I am not guilty… I proved that it was the police who fired first… we only fired when the police started firing… TEHELKA: This has become your area now… Vyas: No, it is only because I am never afraid… ••• Vyas: When the Congress was in power, it was under [Madhavsinh] Solanki in ’85, at that time Hindus took a lot of abuse… communal riots took place regularly for two years… the remote control was then in the hands of the Muslims…

Riots would happen whenever there was some money in Muslim homes… they never happened between the 10th and 20th of the month… They’d get their salaries and all on the 10th and that is when the riots used to happen… It happened this way regularly, you can ask anyone…

••• Vyas: When we left here, we had 1,800 people with us… Of them, 300 were women… We had bought tickets for 50 people… the rest travelled in the name of Ram… This is what Laloo Yadav was referring to when he asked what proof there was that all of them were seated in the train… The reason we bought even those 50 tickets was so that if some of the others were caught, we could get them out of trouble and say why have you caught them, they have tickets… When we were returning from Ayodhya… the train stops there for only half an hour… it comes in from Faizabad… at that time, the women were talking about the leaders having it easy, they could walk as they pleased on the platform while the women had to get knocked around in the crowd. So, I told them to… let the women occupy the seats reserved for us and said we would travel in the general class… We went to the general bogie and it was these unfortunate people who died… meaning, it was the S-6 coach that was set ablaze… the one where we had reserved seats… ••• Vyas: We fought there [in Godhra] too… because the train… We took the women off the train… and we formed a cordon around them… Later I said, what are you looking at, go and kill them… So we set the mosque there on fire… TEHELKA: In Godhra? Vyas: Our people stabbed three men to death and we also burned down the garage from where they got the oil cans… When the tyres there started bursting… there were tyres there too… it made a noise like a big bomb blast… That was when Deepak Swaroop called in the military police from Baroda… He knew the matter was out of control… He told me that we were doing wrong… I told him to go f**k his mother… what wrong are we doing… can’t you see… you bastard, aren’t you a Hindu… was your father a Muslim… That’s how it was…

‘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 JUNE 12, 2007 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 oneday… 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 JUNE 12, 2007 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 SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 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 sixand-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 SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 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 RSS Will Tell You How Chharas Killed Muslims’ Transcript: PRAKASH RATHOD & SURESH RICHARD The Sangh succeeded in mobilising the under class during the riots. Rathod and Richard proved their worth at Naroda Patiya AUGUST 12, 2007 TEHELKA: Are some of the Patiya accused still in jail? Rathod: No, not from Patiya… TEHELKA: Bipin Panchal [a BJP worker] is still inside, isn’t he? Rathod: Bipin is out… Only one is in, Shashikant alias Tunia… TEHELKA: Where does Bipin stay? Rathod: He used to stay in Krishna Nagar, but now nobody knows… TEHELKA: He was here that time… Rathod: He was… All the boys were with him — he was distributing samaan [weapons]...

TEHELKA: Swords etc?… The Chharas rioted with lathis… Rathod: No, no, some of them had talwars and trishuls… You know that guy Suresh Richard whom you met, he had every kind of weapons except revolvers… TEHELKA: Enough to distribute? Rathod: There was this man called Gudda… He is in jail… He had been let out on parole but he ran away, so he’s in jail for that… He killed a lot of people too… He showed great daring… TEHELKA: Where was Bipin that day? Rathod:We were all scattered at first… Then came Bipin Panchal… There were lots of people with him… They all entered saying Shri Ram, Shri Ram, they have killed our brothers and now we have to teach them a lesson… When the fires started, the Muslims also gathered… TEHELKA: The Muslims… Rathod: Then we beat them and made them run… One or two of them were thrown into [the fire]… TEHELKA: Suresh Richard was part of the mob… Rathod: He fought very well, so did Gudda and Naresh Chhara… They were tireless… The Muslims are scared of Richard… Even the police is scared of him… If he wasn’t handicapped, he’d have… ••• TEHELKA: Are all of you happy with the VHP… Rathod: Who

comes here now from the VHP… Only Babu Bajrangi still bothers to find out about us… We got out of jail before he did… Babubhai was the last released… but he used to ask about us even from jail … What sangathan... Our women fought like the Rani of Jhansi… We [the Chharas] went first… The VHP followed us… Nobody could have done what we did… We filled well after well… we burned enough [people] to fill tractors… Richard: I swear by my children... I swear by the Mata that if we had not been there, at least 30 to 35 Hindus would have been killed… ••• 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: February 28… 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… •••

Richard:We’d

finished burning everything and had returned… That was when the police called us… They said some Muslims were hiding in this sewer… When we went there, we saw their houses had been completely burned down but seven or eight of them had hidden in the gutter… We shut the lid on it… If we’d gone in after them, we might have been in danger… We closed the lid and weighted it down with big boulders… Later, they found eight or ten corpses in there… They’d gone there to save their lives, but... they died of the gases down there… This happened in the evening… the dhamal [killing spree] went till night, till about 8.30… TEHELKA: So you went in again…. Richard:We

were inside… By evening, things had cooled down… We were tired also… After all, a man gets tired out… Hurling stones, beating with

pipes, stabbing, all this… The way we came out from inside could only be done by a man of strong heart… ••• Richard: Mayaben was moving around all day in an open jeep… TEHELKA: On the day of the Patiya massacre… Richard:

[She was saying] Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram… wearing a saffron headband… She kept raising slogans… She said, carry on with your work, I’m here [to protect you]… She was wearing a white sari and had on a saffron band… I had also tied on a saffron band… ••• Richard: Batteries

were burning… gas cylinders were burning…. Some pigs were sleeping under a truck…. We killed a pig, four or five of us Chharas got together and killed the pig… Then we hung the pig up from the mosque and raised a saffron flag… Eight or 10 of us climbed on top… We tried hard but the masjid didn’t break… ••• Richard: One of our brothers brought a tanker… from Thakar Nagar crossroad…. He’d killed Muslims and brought the tanker. It was put in reverse and the mosque was broken… [It burst] like water out of a fire engine... Petrol was thrown and then it was burnt… TEHELKA: who brought the tanker? Richard: A brother brought it... TEHELKA: From the VHP... Richard: Not that… He was a Hindu brother… Those who were inside… they were all finished … TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes… Richard: Now

look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit are going to be crushed and thrown away]... Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death anyway, some people must have helped themselves to the fruit…

TEHELKA: There must have been a couple of rapes… Richard: Might

even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say…the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I also ate… I also ate… I ate once TEHELKA: Just once? Richard: Just

once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… That scrap-dealer’s girl, Naseemo… Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top…

TEHELKA: You got on top of her… Richard: Yes, properly… TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she? Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle… ••• Richard: Today, I will say something... If you have a child and I put him into the fire… your soul will burn, won’t it... Those who survived have called me the cripple who burnt their children… Some survived…by putting a tika on their foreheads… or by hiding in a hut… TEHELKA: Passing off as Hindus… Richard:

A crowd came saying Jai Shri Ram… but we knew who was from which community… So then we killed them, ask the RSS and Bajrang Dal people… they will tell you that the Chharas were picking out the Muslims and killing them… marking them down one by one …

‘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 MAY 19, 2007 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?

: 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 threefoot 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 mobilised 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… Bhatt

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 MAY 20, 2007 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 organised… 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 stonepelting... 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 channelised … 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…

‘The Smallest Village Wasn’t Spared’ Transcript: ANIL PATEL

VHP leader Anil Patel says even Congress workers joined in the attacks, and that senior police officers were very helpful JUNE 13, 2007 Anil Patel: You ask me questions and I will answer… TEHELKA: I don’t know much about this area… Patel: Let me tell you about this district, Sabarkantha. The maximum number of FIRs were filed here, after Godhra. I know because I handled all the cases on behalf of the VHP. There were 40 murders, 60 murders here…

TEHELKA: In Dhansura alone?

No, in Sabarkantha. All of Sabarkantha. As for setting villages ablaze, even the smallest one was not spared… Not even one Muslim home was spared in the entire district. At nine in the morning on February 27, I got to know that the train had been burnt but when I Patel:

saw it on TV, I realised it was a big incident and that there would be a big reaction… Then a message came from the state office saying that the next day a bandh would be observed… Then I met a friend who asked me how we would respond TEHELKA:Was he a Muslim? Patel: No, he’s Hindu… I told him that the entire world would watch what we would do the next day. At 10 that night, I received a call from the [VHP] office asking me to identify the bodies of the 16 karsevaks who belonged to my district. I was asked to inform their families and arrange for the bodies to be taken to their homes. The first reaction to Godhra happened from my district, from village Badgaon near Dhansura. The stabbing that happened at Baroda railway station… that was carried out by a worker from Badgaon. Then there was a stabbing at Anand station — that was also done by one of our cadres with a trishul. And when our activists returned, they took an oath at the main square that the next day itself, they would give a befitting reply. TEHELKA:Were only the Parishad workers present? Patel: No, the entire Hindu community had got together. Even the Congress joined us. The BJP was also there. Some Congress supporters — every village has four or five — were not with us and were busy trying to protect the Muslims. There was an MLA, Haribhai Patel — he has expired since — who tried to protect the Muslims. There was another guy, Jagrobhai Mistri, a very rich man, who was also trying to save the Muslims… There was this other incident when the violence was going on… The photos of a nude girl were found in the house of a Muslim, Bapu Hajim… they were of one of our Hindu girls… fully naked… the girl was naked and so was Hajim… We found six or seven photos like this… We showed them to Haribhai and told him, look at what the Muslim is doing… He got up and walked away. Nov 03, 2007

TEHELKA: Hari of the Congress… Patel: Yes… There is also one Arvind Jai Singh here… he also… Muslims… TEHELKA: How were the activists motivated? Patel: The incident was being repeated on TV. The killing of the karsevaks was being played and replayed [throughout the day]. All of us, including the Congressmen felt that we [Hindus] had been attacked. They did everything alongside us, even triggered the bomb to demolish the mosque … TEHELKA: A masjid was demolished in Dhansura Patel: One maulvi was killed. The mosque was destroyed. There was only one mosque here.

TEHELKA: The maulvi was burnt… Patel: Hmm... TEHELKA:Was he burnt alive? Patel: No, they took him away… [makes a gesture of beheading someone] TEHELKA: With a sword…

No, with an axe…

Patel: After I visited the hospital [where the karsevaks’ bodies had been kept] and returned at four in the morning, I had decided that if there were no reaction that day, then I would leave the VHP. TEHELKA: Yes… it had become a question of prestige… Patel: I would not work unless 500 Muslims were killed… After everything was over, I thought to myself that others too had thought like me… At that time, I decided that the responsibility of hitting back was ours. They burnt our sisters and brothers, they too would be burnt alive… TEHELKA: Children too?

: Lock them indoors and just set them on fire… Kill the entire family. We’ll take care of whatever happens after that… Bolt the doors so no one can escape. I said, we will take responsibility for whatever happens afterwards… Patel

TEHELKA: So houses were burnt here in Dhansura… Patel: Many… there were 126 properties in Dhansura… they were all destroyed. In the entire district, there was only one village where 75 percent Muslims didn’t return… TEHELKA: Didn’t return… ••• TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made in Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it work here? Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here, because of which dynamite is available… Then, we also had some experts. They made [explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad as well… TEHELKA: Ahmedabad? Patel:We supplied from here also •••

Patel: During the day, I had said, do something, but I wasn’t sure TEHELKA: Not sure?

Patel: I was very tired… mental tension… there were so many phone calls coming. At about 1, I got a call saying that about 2,500 people had gathered at Bayad road… TEHELKA: Bayad road? Patel: So I went to Bayad and told them that our people had been burnt to death and they were now to do whatever they wanted. Go to the villages and kill. After that, 30 incidents happened. From Bayad, I came to Dhansura and Dhansura was also up in flames. The arson was initiated by our workers but gradually everyone joined in… Some were opposed. Like Congress guys Praful… Sangram Singh in Modasa… Munnabhai in Sathamba… They tried to save [the Muslims]. The Congress guys tried to protest, but the majority were with us… TEHELKA: The majority were with you. Any activists who were in the forefront? Patel: The activists did everything... They killed, they hacked … TEHELKA: Did [DSP] Solanki lend full support… Patel: [mumbles a name] TEHELKA: Who? Patel: Someone called Mansoori, who was a SIMI sympathiser… TEHELKA: SIMI is a terrorist organisation…. Patel: He [Mansoori] was a vegetable vendor. He was hacked to death… At night, I got a call from Arvindbhai Soni, our co-minister, saying this incident has happened. I asked him if he was at the spot and he said no, but some Bajrang Dal brothers were there. I told him to stay at some safe place and to be cautious. The next morning I got to know that Arvindbhai had been arrested… I went to Biloda and called the DSP [District Superintendent of Police] … Both Jayantibhai and I went to meet the DSP and he said he’d release Arvindbhai... Everything was there on paper, in the arrest report, but when Arvindbhai was to be transferred to judicial custody, he was told to go back to the [VHP] office...

TEHELKA: Go to the office… Patel: He stayed in the office for a month and a half… ••• TEHELKA: The main contribution was the VHP’s and the Bajrang Dal’s… Patel: I and the Sangh did a lot… the Sangh did it without being asked… Many Sangh workers also went to jail… There is a village nearby called Sathambha… the taluk executive was booked under Section 302 [IPC]… there is still a case against him in Modasa for killing a Muslim woman… There is Amrudhbhai… he also did a lot of good work… he is the taluk executive TEHELKA: What’s his name? Patel: Amrudhbhai Prajapati… TEHELKA: Is he still in jail?…

Patel: He is out on bail now… TEHELKA: He is from the Sangh? Patel: He is VHP President, district Modasa. Another man, Ashokbhai Patel, he also went to jail… TEHELKA: He is also from the VHP… Patel: Yes, from the VHP... A lot of people tried their best to get me booked too, but ND Solanki, Arvindbhai Brahmbhat and Pravinbhai Togadia and the caution I exercised [saved me]… Later on, I looked after everybody in jail and organised their food and looked after their cases… •••

Strategy… there was no strategy as such… The main thing was to give a befitting retaliation, to harm as many Muslims as possible, in whatever manner… by burning them, killing them… Educated activists knew what was to be done… but the public felt that even breaking a door meant furthering the cause of Hindutva… Patel:

TEHELKA: Muslims were killed in Dhansura… Patel: The maulvi was killed… TEHELKA: You were in-charge of the entire district? Patel: I was looking after three four taluks… Dhansura, Bayad, Meghraj, Maalpur, Modasa… TEHELKA: How many Muslims were killed in these taluks? Patel: More than 30... TEHELKA: Some are missing as well… Patel: In Bayad, they are missing … 60 drivers from Modasa never came back… TEHELKA: Truck drivers… Patel: From Mumbai… ••• Patel:

Our Pravinbhai Togadia… did it at the district level…

TEHELKA: Did you speak to him? Patel: Yes...

TEHELKA: Then during the riots…

Be careful with whatever you do. He told me about the cases also… that the main workers should not be jailed… because it would affect the morale of the workers… that it’s okay if the goonda elements were booked because we would be able to bail them out… But our main workers were not to get booked… this is what he told me… They were booked, though. Amrudhbhai got [Section] 302… The Modasa district president was also charged… It’s like this… I felt that several people went to jail even after the events… Patel:

••• Patel: Modasa was one village in which the Muslims had the upper hand over Hindus... They had attacked one of our Bajrang Dal associates… Later some 60-70 Muslim shops were burnt… But after Godhra, we stayed on top of them…

The Bomb Makers

‘We Made A Complete Rocket Launcher Here’ Transcript: HARESH BHATT The Godhra MLA reveals how his firecracker factory made bombs that were then smuggled across the state JUNE 1, 2007

Haresh Bhatt

Haresh Bhatt: Get rid of their lathis… teach them [the RSS] to use guns… Bajrang Dal members undergo arms training… I am the first in the whole country to run a warg [training module]… I formed the first warg in Gujarat in 1987… with seven young men… TEHELKA: In ’87? Bhatt: Yes, in ’87…The [Babri Masjid] demolition that happenedlater, I gave training for that too… Forty young men from across the country were brought here… I also trained Bajrang Dal activists here in Sarkhej, which created a ruckus later… Rajesh Pilot even said in the Lok Sabha that training was being given in Sarkhej... training in demolition… TEHELKA: You mean of the Babri Masjid..

Bhatt: Yes. The training to demolish the Babri Masjid was given in Sarkhej in Ahmedabad. TEHELKA: So Pilot raised this question… Bhatt: Yes… And a CBI inquiry and all… went on here… TEHELKA: Against you? Bhatt: Me… against the instructorshere... all of them. TEHELKA: Okay.

: The training centre still exists…At the start, we gave them the same training they give in the army… judo, karate… rifle shooting… obstacle courses like in the army… how to climb a 30-ft rope… bungee jumping… how to Death worship Bhatt with the VHP’s Pravin Togadia leap from one wall to another… all this in a 15-day training session… It still goes on… One session has just ended… Bhatt

••• TEHELKA: When Godhra happened in 2002… now, Hindus hardly ever keep arms… so how then did they get weapons?…

I have my own gun factory… I used to make firecrackers… We made all the bombs there… Diesel bombs, pipe bombs, we made them there… and we used to distribute them from there as well… We ordered two truckloads of swords from Punjab… right here, in a village called Bhatt:

Dhariya, we readied everything there… and then we distributed the samaan [arms]… At that time, the only thing was that the samaan was needed… TEHELKA: Where did you get the arms from?

We got many country-made pistols… from MP, from UP… we got pistols from everywhere and I distributed them from here… I am talking about this for the first time… nobody knew this secret. Bhatt:

TEHELKA: I know that Hindus do not keep weapons, apart perhaps fromkitchen knives…

:We distributed so many weapons that people were shocked to see how many there were… We would make them here and then test them... We made a complete launcher inside a pipe, right here in the factory... It was a launcher from the side and had piping over that… chaar ki pipe lagaate the… after closing the entire hole we filled that with shrapnel and nails... and beneath that placed a 595 bomb… We’d set it off… it would go through a wall nine inches thick… Bhatt

••• TEHELKA: Hareshbhai, you were saying that you got arms from Kanpur, but there was curfew… Bhatt: Why couldn’t they have been brought?… Anything can be brought. TEHELKA: I was thinking that if curfew… Bhatt: I got them from MP… I got them from Bihar. TEHELKA: But how, when curfew was in force?

Bhatt: Things come, everything can come. TEHELKA: If it came from other states, it had to cross borders… Bhatt: That’s it… they would smuggle it… and it wasn’t just one trip that came for me… there were scores of them. TEHELKA: Our government wasn’t even in power in Kanpur then… Bhatt: No we weren’t… Nor werewe ruling in MP. TEHELKA: Not even in MP… Bhatt: Not in MP… not in UP… not even in Bihar... TEHELKA: So how could these consignments come? Bhatt: Don’t ask me all this. TEHELKA: But they did come… Bhatt: Yes, they definitely came…You can ask [VHP treasurer] Rohitbhai… [about] the arrangements that were made… So many of our Hindus were dying, what was done?… These are the questions you should be asking… TEHELKA: So only swords were brought… Bhatt: No, he’ll tell you everything… I told you we made launchers… launchers with stands and with pipes this thick… in factories… We went to test them… TEHELKA: You mean the rocketlaunchers… Bhatt: Yes… we’d fill them with gunpowder… first fill them, close them, then light a 595 local-made to blast it all… TEHELKA:Were these ever used? Bhatt: So much was used in the border areas, that they were astonished at how it had all been transported. TEHELKA:Were they used in Ahmedabad? Bhatt: Yes... Ahmedabad… Rohitbhai will tell you…

‘Bombs Were Useful In Close Encounters’ Transcript: DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL

Dhawal Jayanti Patel

The VHP’s Sabarkantha zila sanyojak, who owns a quarry in the area, shares recipes from his home-grown bomb factory JUNE 13, 2007 TEHELKA: I had a long meeting with Anilbhai, who spoke very openly. He told me about the dynamite… Is there a mine here? Patel: There is, right here. TEHELKA:Were bombs made here? Patel: Everything went from here itself… See, blasting stones is our work anyway... We get material for blasting… we can use it easily. TEHELKA: Dynamite?… Patel: Meaning, our work is to blast stones and we blast stones with that… TEHELKA: With dynamite?… So how many bombs were made at that time [in 2002]?

of bombs… lots of desi bombs were made and sent… Patel: Lots

TEHELKA: A thousand? Two thousand?

Patel: They were useful in the galis, in face-to-face encounters… Juhapura… Kalupur… the half-Hindu areas. TEHELKA: So you had some bombmaking experts here at that time? Patel: Yes, yes… There is one Amrudhbhai Patel… TEHELKA: He made the bombs? Patel: He taught us… he was in jail earlier… TEHELKA: Is he from the Sangh… Patel: He is from the RSS … He is quite old… and was in jail in 1989 for making bombs.... TEHELKA:Would you show me how they are made? [Dhawal tells his men in Gujarati to bring bombmaking material]...

Patel: Stones are blasted… the stones are stuffed [with dynamite] and blasted apart. The ground breaks with the impact, so imagine what it will do to human beings… This is used to drill a hole in the boulders…. Then there is this powder with RDX base. TEHELKA: RDX? Patel: Mixed… there is some RDX…. There is this white powder… then you connect a wire…. Then wire the battery… press it like this and rotate it and the blast takes place… It can be triggered with a mobile battery… it needs 20 watts power… We’ve become systematic now… Earlier we’d just light it and throw it… it blasts everything… boxes, you know, paan masala boxes… fill them, light them and throw them…

‘Explosives Experts Helped Make The Bombs’ Transcript: ANIL PATEL The Gujarat VHP’s vibhag pramukh speaks of bombs destined for Ahmedabad being smuggled from stone quarries owned by VHP workers in Sabarkantha JUNE 13, 2007 TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made at Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it happen here? Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here… because of which dynamite is available. Then, we also had some experts… they also made them [the explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad

Anil Patel