Gujarat: Farooq Bhana, a man accused of plotting the February 2002 attack on the Sabarmati Express in Gujarat's Godhra that killed 59 people, has been arrested by the state's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). Bhana had been on the run for 14 years.
A police chargesheet alleges that Farooq Bhana, a former municipal councilor, took part in a meeting of about 20 people at a guest house in Godhra on February 27 2002, to plan a mob attack hours later on the train, which was carrying kar sewaks or volunteers returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
According to reports, Bhana was arrested from Kalol in Panchmahal district where a surreptitious meeting with his family members was to be held.
On February 27, 2002 as many as 59 lives were claimed after coach number S-6 of Sabarmati Express train was torched by a mob at Godhra railway station.
In 2011, a special court in regard to the case pronounced death sentence to 11 people and life time imprisonment to 20. 63 people were acquitted in this case.
The convicts have filed an appeal in the Gujarat High Court against the trial court's order. The verdict is awaited.
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