Title: The Mystery E-Mail 
Author: Prem Shankar Jha
Publication: Outlook India
Date: Mar 25, 2002 
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20020325&fname=Column+Prem+%28F%29&sid=1

The story is inconsistent. For example, would kar sevaks force a girl into a compartment occupied by their families?

I am writing this column primarily to keep my promise to a young boy. About a week after the burning of the train at Godhra, a mysterious e-mail began to circulate in places as far apart as Delhi, Mumbai and Ann Arbor, Michigan. It gave what was purportedly the true story of the events that led to the burning of the train at Godhra. This is what the e-mail said:

"The tragic incident of Sabarmati Express that occurred at about 1 km away from Godhra railway station has thrown a question mark to those people who claim to be secular or liberal. Many aspects and facts have been ignored and which I would like to bring to your notice. Compartment no S-6, alongwith two other compartments, of the Sabarmati Express was carrying the kar sevaks of the VHP. And it was due to these kar sevaks from compartment no S-6 that the incident occurred. The actual story didn't start from Godhra as being told everywhere but it started from a place from Daahod 75 km before Godhra railway station. At about 5:30 to 6:00 am the train reached Daahod railway station. These kar sevaks, after having tea and snacks at the railway stall, broke down the stall after having some argument with the stall owner and they proceeded back to the departing train. The stall owner then filed an NC against kar sevaks at the local police station about the above incident.Then about 7:00 to 7:15 am the train reached Godhra railway station. All the kar sevaks came out from their reserved compartments and started to have tea and snacks, at the small tea stall on the platform, which was being run by an old bearded man from the minority community. There was a servant helping this old man in the stall. The kar sevaks on purpose argued with this old man and then bate him up and pulled his beard. This was all planned to humiliate the old man since he was from the minority community. These kar sevaks kept repeating the slogan, 'Mandir ka nirmaan karo, Babar ki aulad ko bahar karo ' (start building the mandir and throw the sons of Babar i.e the Muslims out of the country). Hearing the chaos, the daughter (16) of the old man who was also present at the station came forward and tried to save her father from kar sevaks. She kept pleading and begging to them to stop beating her father and leave him alone. But instead of listening to her woes, the kar sevaks lifted the young girl and took her inside their compartment (S-6) and closed the compartment door shut. The train started to move out of the platform of Godhra railway station. The old man kept banging on the compartment doors and pleaded to leave his daughter. Just before the train could move out completely from the platform, two stall vendors jumped into the last bogey that comes after the guard cabin. And with the intention of saving the girl they pulled the chain and stopped the train. By the time the train halted completely, it was 1 km away from the railway station.

"These two men then came to the bogey in which the girl was and started to bang at the door and requested the kar sevaks to leave the girl alone. Hearing all these chaos, people in the vicinity near to the tracks started to gather towards the train. The boys and the mob (that also included women) that had now gathered near the compartment requested the kar sevaks to return the girl back. But instead of returning the girl, they started closing their windows. This infuriated the mob and they retaliated by pelting stones at the compartment. The compartment adjoining compartment S-6 on both sides contained kar sevaks of the VHP.

These kar sevaks were carrying banners that had long bamboo sticks attached to them. These kar sevaks got down and started attacking with bamboo sticks on the mob gathered to save the girl. This was like adding insult to injury for the crowd gathered and their anger was now uncontrollable.The crowd started to bring diesel and petrol from trucks and rickshaws standing at the garages. They didn't bring the fuel from any petrol pump as being reported everywhere nor was this act of burning pre-planned as being mentioned by many people but it happened all of a sudden out of sheer frustration and anger. After hearing about this incident, member of VHP living in that area started burning down the garages in Signal Fadia, they also burnt down Badshah Masjid, at Shehra Bhagaad (small area in Godhra). Reliable resources have reported all these information and facts to me (and) their information can't be doubted. I would also mention my sources namely Mr Anil Soni and Neelam Soni (reporters of Gujarat Samachar newspaper and also member of PTI and ANI) have worked hard to dig the true facts and they duly deserve words of appraisal for their hard work."

The letter then gave Soni's residential, office and mobile phone numbers. The story was disturbing to say the least. Much of it had already appeared in print. But there were strange inconsistencies. Would kar sevaks force a girl into a compartment occupied by their families? Soni's mobile number gave the prefix as 0098 and not 098. Lastly, I was familiar with a First Information Report (FIR) but had never heard of an NC. So, I rang up Anil Soni in Godhra to get more details. That was when I got my first surprise. Soni not only categorically denied having ever filed such a story, but also claimed that the contents of the mail were the exact opposite of what had happened. We were interrupted by another phone call (his life was being made miserable by inquiries). The next day when I called him again, he was out but I got his young son Vimal on the line. Vimal told me in great detail what his father had actually found out at the site of the tragedy. He said it was pre-planned and went on to add chilling details that his father had not included in his stories. He ended by entreating me to publicise the fact that his father did not file such a story. I am fulfilling my promise to him.