Gulberg Society, Chamanpura

Crime Against Humanity 
Volume I An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat 
List of Incidents and Evidence 
By Concerned Citizens Tribunal -Gujarat 2002

Incidents of Post-Godhra Violence: Ahmedabad

Gulberg Society, Chamanpura

List of accused

This is probably the first carnage to have been unleashed after the Godhra tragedy,after the corpses of the burnt bodies had been taken from Godhra to the Sola CivilHospital in Ahmedabad. The attack on Gulberg society, which was home to AhsanJafri, former trade unionist and MP of the Congress party, was launched with militaryprecision from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on Thursday, February 28. A 20-25,000 strongmob surrounded the Chamanpura area in the heart of Ahmedabad city. The FIR lodgedby KG Erda of the Meghani Nagar police station itself gives a detailed account ofthe utter failure of the police to put off the assailants or protect the trapped residents.The FIR admits that the arson and destruction began from that morning itself. TheTribunal recorded detailed testimonies of all the eye-witnesses to the Gulberg societycarnage, including a Parsi, who was with Ahsan Jafri until the end, when, at around2.30 p.m., he surrendered himself to the mob in a desperate attempt to save thepersons who had sought shelter in his home from nearby chawls. One of the mostshocking aspects of the Gulberg society carnage, to which two eyewitnesses and twoothers testified, is the fact that the commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, PC Pandey,visited Ahsan Jafri at 10.30 a.m. that day, and assured him of police reinforcements.The CP stands directly indicted because he did not keep his promise of sending policehelp. The few men who were deputed from the Meghani Nagar chowki, merely watchedas 70 persons were butchered and burnt in a macabre dance of death. The 10-12women among the victims were brutally gang raped.

The centre of an Indian commercial city saw a medieval and macabre dance ofdeath, humiliation and revenge heaped on women, children and men. Ten to twelvegas cylinders were exploded that day and used as arsenal in the attack. Members ofthe Tribunal visited the site on May 3, 2002. We found hundreds of little glass bottlescontaining a whitish powder scattered all round. This was used to heighten the impactand intensity of the fire and ensured that the bodies were burnt to ashes.

According to eyewitness accounts as well as the full list of dead and missing per-sons attached to the FIR, about 70 persons have died — 49 from the society, and 18-20 from outside, who had come to seek shelter at Jafri’s home. This is not the figurementioned officially. (The official figure released is 59.) Evidence of one ManojKumar, a Hindu neighbour, has also been placed before the Tribunal. He testified tothe fact that the attackers pulled the babies out with the men, then poured petrol overthem and burnt them. The police merely stood back and watched. When questionedabout this gross dereliction of duty, commissioner PC Pandey shrugged and said: “Wewere outnumbered.”(The Times of India, March 2, 2002.)

At about 10.30 a.m., police commissioner Pandey, with Ambalal Nadia, the Con-gress mahamantri, Ward No. 19, and Kannulal Solanki from Ward No. 20, visited Jafriand gave him a personal assurance that they would send reinforcements and that hewould be fully protected. Within five minutes of the CP’s departure, at 10.35 a.m.,the Zahir Bakery and an autorickshaw just outside Gulberg society were burnt. Thestoning of Gulberg society began around 11.15-11.30 a.m. Forty-five minutes later,at about 12.15-12.30 p.m., stones, acid bulbs, bottles and petrol bombs were thrownat Gulberg society from the rear side of the complex of buildings and bungalows.

From the terrace of an adjacent bungalow belonging to a non-Muslim, between 12.30and 12.45 p.m., there was heavy stone throwing, including big boulders. This causedthe biggest damage, because, without this frontal attack using premises from withinthe residential colony itself, the residents might have been able to protect themselves.The volley of huge stones, along with acid bulbs and burning cloth balls, continueduntil 1-1.15 p.m. Around 1 p.m., one Yusuf, a resident of the society, was caught, cutup and torched. Fear amongst the residents had mounted. By this time there werenearly 80 persons in Jafri’s house. Amid shouts of “Ghusijao” (“Get in!”), between2.30-2.45 p.m., suddenly the gate at the rear end of the Society, near the railwaytracks, was broken down. Between 2.30-2.45 p.m., Ahsan Jafri, who was clearly aspecific target, allowed himself to be dragged out of his own house. There, just out-side the home that he had so painfully created, for 45 minutes, he was brutally dis-membered and then finally decapitated. He was stripped, paraded naked, and askedto say, “Vande Mataram!” and “Jai Shri Ram!” He refused. His fingers were choppedoff and he was paraded around in the locality, badly injured. Next, his hands and feetwere chopped off. He was then dragged, a fork-like instrument clutching his neck,down the road, before being thrown into the fire. A man who had devoted his life topublic service, had met a brutal end. In this attack, Jafri was killed along with histhree brothers and two nephews.

At this time, 2.45 p.m., Anwar, another resident, was also killed. The main accused(whose names appear later) brought in logs from the nearby Sansar Bakery and began,ominously, to prepare four funeral pyres. Anwar was killed and then cut up into piecesand burnt. There was a relentless barrage of stoning, throwing of fireballs and frontalattacks on Jafri’s house in particular. This was confirmed by many eyewitnesses to thetragic carnage, all of whom deposed before the Tribunal.

After this, Shafi Mohammed Munawar Sheikh was also cut into three pieces, andburnt alive. It was between 3.30-4.30 p.m. that 10-12 women were first raped, thencut into pieces with guptis, and then thrown into the fire. The police finally arrivedbetween 4.30-5.00 p.m. At 5.20 p.m., the police party which was trying to rescue thepeople, was stoned. Finally, at around 7 p.m., the survivors were taken out of the areaunder police escort.

One of the eyewitnesses who was with Jafri until the end, a Parsi woman whose12-year-old son is one of those who has been missing since that day, gave the Tribu-nal an elaborate testimony. This witness contacted an influential relative, a legal lumi-nary, for help and the latter rushed to meet the police commissioner in person. TheCP the telephoned the witness. He asked her, “How many from your family are trappedthere?” “Three, Sir,” she replied, implying that there were only three Parsis trappedthere – she, her daughter and son -since her husband was at the Meghani Nagar policestation. She then saw the other victims around her, quickly recovered herself andsaid, “No there are 40 persons here.” He then took the address but the help, when itcame, was too late.

This witness was in her verandah, in the same building as Jafri, when about 6-7persons came to the neighbourhood to close down everything because of the bandh. Aboy who was standing opposite had closed his shop, but they ran to beat him up. Hewas shouting for help, and there were 6-7 policemen also standing there, who werewatching, but did not help. When his brother came to help him, they started beatinghim up as well. Then the first boy ran inside, to be followed by a boy with a knife. Shecould see them because they were in the society, but she could not see what happenedto the other boy.

This witness saw Jafri go out to meet CP Pandey at 10.30 a.m. Jafri returned after afew minutes, apparently reassured that forces would be sent soon. He told others thathe had told the CP that if they could not send forces they should escort the Gulbergsociety residents out. Children from the different homes in Gulberg society were tak-ing their morning tuition classes when, in panic, parents had to summon them backhome. The attackers first torched all the vehicles outside.

The mobs were shouting “Jai Sri Ram!” and “Kill! Slaughter! This is what they didto us in Godhra. We will do the same to them here!” Eyewitnesses who deposedbefore the Tribunal saw that they used gas cylinders from the abandoned homes asammunition for the attacks. Chemicals were sprayed into the room, then gas cylindersthrown in after removing the seals. With fireballs providing the spark, the gas cylin-ders exploded like bombs. The blast was so powerful that it made the plaster peel offwalls, so much so that the structural steel rods were exposed. The attackers werepulling out the girls and killing anyone who came out of Jafri’s home, either withswords or by pouring kerosene over them and torching them.

By 11 a.m., women had collected in Jafri’s flat, bringing their valuables, fearing theworst. Witnesses also saw the mob throwing something that would fall near theirhouses and then burst into flames.

Despite the CP’s visit to Gulberg society, the police did not come. Jafri kept look-ing outside with apprehension while he made calls to all the influential people listedin his diary. He made numerous calls including calls to Congressman AmarsinghChaudhry, the commissioner, and the local police station.

By then, the mob had started breaking windows. They threw burning tyres insideand the women inside would catch them and throw them out. In fact the witness’hands were singed. There was no water in the house because it had all been consumedand the water from the tanks below had been leaked out by the mob. Inside, thepeople did all they could to save themselves in those terrible two hours. They rippedoff carpets so that they did not catch fire.

At about 2-2.30 p.m., the phone was disconnected. By then Jafri had begun plead-ing with the mob for forgiveness—he was speaking in Gujarati—and telling them tolet them go. He said that all the residents of Gulberg would leave without any belong-ings, only their lives. They said, “You burnt our parents, our sisters, so we will notspare you.” The Parsi lady even said, “I am a Parsi – we are neither Hindus nor Mus-lims,” to which they replied, “We know no Parsis or anything else.” They were in sucha murderous mood at the time. They had been burning the kitchens in all the housesfirst. At about 3 p.m., they even poured petrol over this witness and her 11-year-olddaughter. They had brought petrol in plastic bags and they threw the bags at them sothey were soaked with petrol. By this time only one room of Jafri’s home was not onfire but the rest were full of smoke. Many persons collapsed due to asphyxiation.There were bodies of women and children everywhere. Many died choking from thesmoke. Only the strong and the lucky could survive. The police arrived at about 4.30p.m. When the victim-survivors were escorted out by the police, the mob stoned thevan. That is when PI Pathan gave orders to shoot into the crowd rather than in the air.If he had not fired, and dispersed the crowd somewhat, even the rest would havedied. Even when they got into the van, the victim-survivors had only the driver withthem; there were no other policemen.

There are 21 eyewitnesses to the entire case who have been consistent in theirdepositions before other human rights and fact-finding teams. Each of these have lostfrom 1-7 family members in the brutal violence. The Tribunal benefited from thedetailed records of this incident, the FIRs etc., published in Communalism Combat’s‘Genocide – Gujarat 2002’ issue. The accused, who have been identified by eyewit-nesses to have launched the first attack, are: Girish Prabhudaas Sharma, Bharat Rajput,Kapilkumar Munna. Bharat Rajput stabbed Ayyub.

Several eyewitnesses saw the CP arriving and talking to Jafri. “He said to Jafri, ‘Weare making all arrangements for you and sending additional police force – you don’tworry.” Jafri sa’ab told Pandey sa’ab, ‘If you cannot make arrangements for us and if youdon’t have enough men, then arrange for us to go away from here – just let us know.”’Within minutes of the commissioner’s car leaving from one side, a mob appearedfrom the other and started throwing stones. From the Asarwa side, the ex-corporatorand BJP worker, Chunilal Prajapati, was leading the mob, swearing at Muslims and shouting, “Kill! Slaughter! See what they did in Godhra. They killed our Hindus sonow kill them all, destroy their society.” From the Om Nagar side, ex-Congress mu-nicipal councillor, Meghsingh Dubsingh, was leading the mob, which also started throw-ing stones. Jafri had opposed Dubsingh’s receiving a ticket in the last elections.Muslims from the surrounding chawls also came into the society for protection. Thereis a railway line behind Gulberg society, and from that side, where there are servants’quarters, a mob of about 5-6,000 came. They were led by Jagrup Singh Rajput, whowas deputy mayor of Ahmedabad when the BJP held a majority in the municipality.Stone throwing started from the back as well. Thus, from all four sides of Gulbergsociety, stone throwing was going on.

In his desperation, Jafri made over 200 calls that day. He called PC Pandey, AmarsinghChaudhry in Gandhinagar, Naresh Rawal, and even the chief minister and the homeminister. According to a witness, “At about 2:30 p.m., Jafri sa’ab, who was standing athis door with folded hands, was pulled out by four men. The four who pulled him outwere: Narayan Kabra, a cable operator in Chamanpura, Ramesh Choti, a ‘Bhaiyaji’,Manish Jain, son of the owner of Rajasthan grocery store, and Krishna, son ofChampaben. (Eyewitnesses have also recorded these names in the statements madeduring police investigations.) As they were pulling him out, they were slashing himwith a sword and they cut him up into three pieces. After burning Jafri sa’ab, thepeople who had come in started burning tyres, etc. They broke all the doors of Jafrisa’ab’s house and torched it from all sides. There were 35 children and everyone wasbegging with folded hands but they could not go out. By about 3.15 p.m., Jafri’s househad filled with smoke and all persons trapped inside for their safety were finding itdifficult to breathe.”

Some women from inside were lured out on the pretext that they would be keptsafe. Eyewitnesses who testified before the Tribunal saw Dinesh Prabhudas Sharma,who was carrying a sword, killing Yusuf. It was Lathia who tore the clothes off theniece of one eyewitness, raped her and then killed her. Lala Mohansingh Darbar, whowas also involved in the incidents of torching earlier, killed another woman.At around 4:45 p.m., an eyewitness who had hidden himself in a cabin at the backof the small garden, heard shouts of “Run, run!” and guessed that the police hadcome. This eyewitness asked ACP Tandon to rescue some of the persons sufferingfrom asphyxiation who were trapped inside Jafri’s home, but he was reluctant to doanything. The attack had been planned with such meticulousness that even the waterfrom the tanks in Jafri’s house and garden as well as those in neighbouring houses hadbeen emptied so that the fires could not be put out. Despite the fact that the fire wasspreading, the ACP did not intervene to save lives. It was half an hour after the policearrived, at about 5:15 p.m., when the gas cylinders inside Jafri’s house burst. Thosewho remained trapped and could not escape, died. There were 30-35 women andchildren who were thus burnt to ashes. The blatant complicity of the Gujarat stateand its police in the Gulberg society carnage cannot be understated. The CM, thehome minister, the CP, were all called by Jafri himself. The attack lasted for seven hours before Jafri gave himself up to the killers. For five hours it was brutal andintense. Gulberg society, Chamanpura, is in the heart of Ahmedabad city, not in a far-flung area of the state. The extent of the macabre delight that perpetrators took in thecrimes committed was evident in what some residents saw on the evening of Febru-ary 28. When some witnesses returned to the area later that evening, they sawneighbourhood goons ‘playing cricket’ with the skulls of the dead. That such a massa-cre could take place in broad daylight, and lasting several hours, after innumerableattempts and pleas, desperate pleas, for help had been made, is a pathetic and chillingreflection on the quality of governance in Gujarat under CM Modi. A strong case ofpersonal vendetta by Modi, against Jafri was made out by these witnesses, while CPPandey stands individually indicted because he failed to send in reinforcements, ei-ther of his own choice or on orders from above, although he knew how bad thesituation was when he visited Gulberg society at 10.30 a.m. that day.

The first house in Gulberg society compound belongs to Dayaram Mochi . Two ofhis sons are in the police force and one is a teacher. He used to have a single-storeyhouse, but over the past 7 years, after his sons joined the police, he added two morefloors. From his terrace, one has a view of the entire society. When the stones werebeing thrown, he informed the mob that there were only a few people in the society,so they shouldn’t be afraid and just rush in. It was from his house that people werepelting stones. The victim-survivors felt that it was because access to this house wasallowed that the attack became easy and possible.

The Tribunal met Dayaram Mochi and his wife, who claimed that their house wasalso looted – and that all the looting was done by people whose only work is looting,and who know no religion. This witness and his wife said that they had good relationswith other residents of Gulberg society over the last 12 years. The mob came around 9a.m. and surrounded the whole society. Since they were also scared they went to thenearby school and sat down quietly. They said that after that they didn’t know whathappened. These witnesses said that the mob knew that the Mochis were Hindus andso, although their house was looted, they were not physically assaulted. Mochi said thatonce the huge mob had breached the wall, that there was no way that they could havestopped the mob from going up to their terrace. They saw that the building was desertedso they rushed in. He said that if he had tried to stop them, he too would have beenbeaten up. The Mochis did not recognise anyone. Two of the Mochi sons who are in thepolice were both on duty at the time, one in Daryapur and the other in Shahibag. One isa driver and the other a constable. The third one had gone out to give tuitions.

Mochi’s wife said that only the couple and their three daughters-in-law were athome. Their grandchildren were taking tuitions at the home of a Gulberg resident(who also deposed before the Tribunal), and they ran to get the children back whenthe mob arrived since they were among the first to see them. The police took chairsfrom the Mochis’ house. There were only 4-5 policemen although the mob was huge.The police mobile vans came much later. The whole thing started around 9:30 a.m.,but it became really bad after 12 o’clock. The Mochis fled to the school across the road at 9.30 a.m. Thereafter, they saw only smoke and nothing else. It seems clearthat they were allowed to escape with their lives because they were not Muslim.Another eyewitness who is a close associate of Jafri denied the story widely-circu-lated by the CM and the police: that Jafri had fired at the crowd. This witness wasclear that in this attack, Gulberg society was the singular target. He said that in earlierriots (1969), too, Gulberg society had been attacked but then there was trouble else-where in Chamanpura, neighbouring Asarva and Chakla. This time they came di-rectly to Gulberg and zeroed in on this society. It appears clear that Gulberg was thefocus of a pre-meditated plan and attack. Some eyewitnesses also spoke of a clear per-sonal vendetta that CM Modi had against Jafri, which is why Jafri was specifically targetedand his death, the manner of killing, etc., was carefully planned and carried out. Thewitness had accompanied Jafri to Rajkot, where the CM was contesting a by-election, onlya few days before the Godhra tragedy. This witness clearly felt that the CM’s personalrevenge and vendetta against Jafri found expression in the gruesome carnage that devas-tated all of Gulberg society. Jafri campaigned against Modi. In a public meeting in Rajkot,he had urged people not to vote for him because he was an RSS man, and to vote for theCongress instead. The election took place on February 23, 2002.

On February 28, just five days after the election, when the premeditated attack waslaunched, Jafri made as many as 200 calls to various people, desperately seeking help. Amongothers, he also called the CM Modi, home minister Gordhan Zadaphiya and union homeminister LK Advani, the witness said. Jafri had even sent a fax to Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. InAhmedabad, he called the mayor Himmatsinh Patel, and Badruddin Shaikh (chairman, stand-ing committee of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation). When Jafri called CM Modi, hereceived a callous response. It was after the chilling nonchalance of Modi’s response to hisplea for help that Jafri lost all hope and gave himself up to be killed, the witness added.The Tribunal also recorded testimonies of victim-survivors from Dhoopsinh niChali, Janakbehn ni Chali, Chandulal Chali and Santookbehn ni Chali. These are lowermiddle class tenements, from where 70 residents had fled to Gulberg society, to Jafri’shome for support, thinking that they would be safe there as they had been in the past.During earlier bouts of violence in Ahmedabad, Jafri was able to protect them. Butnot this time. When the Tribunal recorded their testimonies, these persons were livingin various camps in Ahmedabad. It is shocking that months after the tragedy there arestill so many persons missing, and that there has been no proper computation of thedead by the state. It reflects the attitude of the Gujarat government to the tremen-dous loss of life, faith and dignity that was the Gujarat carnage.

On the day of the Tribunal’s site visit to Gulberg society, May 3, the entire society wasstill in a terrible condition. Homes had been completely destroyed, the beams and ironrods and fans in houses were twisted, bent out of shape. Though there are Hindus wholive in the Bhagwatinagar society opposite, these persons were not involved in the attack.In the same attack, shops and showrooms on one side of the society, opening ontothe road, were also looted and destroyed. A printing press and a small factory nearby,belonging to Muslims, met the same fate.

The first FIR filed by KG Erda, senior inspector of the Meghani Nagar policestation, names 10 persons and a mob of 20-25,000 as the accused. On February 28,the violence continued from 10.30 a.m.-6 p.m. A complaint was filed at 8.45 p.m. onthe same day. The sections applied in the FIR are: sections 143, 141, 148, 149, 302,332, 323, 336, 337, 435, 436, 427, 186, 188, 120(b) of the IPC, section 1 of theBombay Police Act and sections 25(1) (a) and (b) of the Arms Act. All relevantsections have been applied, except section 376 (rape). Eighteen persons from thevilolent mob were injured in police firing. However, this has not been recorded by thepolice. On March 2, a new section was added. In the first FIR (number 61/2002) thatwas filed, crimes under sections 395, 396, 397 (loot) of the IPC were also added.Then, on March 12, some more sections were added: 398, 295(a), 153(a)(1),153(a)(2)(b), and 188 of the IPC and section 37(1) of the Bombay Police Act.The first FIR filed by KG Erda, senior inspector, police station no. 4/5/200 reads,“On the day VHP had organised a Gujarat bandh eyewitnesses saw Girish, RameshDhulchand (fake jewellery), Mangalal Dhulchand Jain (Adinath Kirana Store), AsishChunawala’s son, Ramesh (Sadhna Store), Mukesh Mochi, Gabbar, Alpesh, a manwith ghungroowala (curly) hair who has a daroo dhanda, Deepak alias Pradeep (BJPworker)... Accused of unlawful armed assembly, the maal-milkat (property and earn-ings) of Muslims was burnt with kerosene, 18 Muslims were cut up in pieces andburnt, 24 were burnt alive. Both the police and Muslims were attacked with stones,petrol bombs, acid bombs and vehicles were burnt by the mob. ”

In his second FIR the officer says: “Under Meghani Nagar, there is an inspector incharge, two police inspectors, two sub-inspectors, 42 head constables and 80 policeconstables and 3 women police constables. On that day, there were two police inspec-tors, six sub-inspectors, 55 head constables, 62 police constables; as for women po-lice, there was one police inspector, one sub-inspector, six head constables, six andthree police constables were on duty. On the patrol there was one police inspector, 5head constables, 34 police constables and one woman constable.“On February 27, when VHP kar sevaks were martyred, the whole state wastense and since then special bandobast was undertaken at different points in thecity. At 7 a.m. on February 28, the Meghani police station got an order from theCP for all of us “to stand to”. We organised bandobast in the Meghani area:Chamanpura, Chakla, Gulberg society, Dhupsingh Chali, Ratnanagar Char Rasta,Ramannagar New Crossing, Meghani Nagar bus stand, New Menta Bari, MeenaBazaar and Rashmi Nagar society.

“On duty were mobile police sub-inspector, BC Dabhi, Ramesh Bhai, head con-stable, Nathabhai, police constable Sureshbhai and Narjibhai, head constablesBhupendra and Shailesh Singh. The police contingent was as needed and armed withtear gas shells. There was enough bandobast at Meghani Nagar. “At 7 a.m. on Febru-ary 28, the mob started attacking the mattress shop, the bakery and the cycle shop.They were breaking all the shops and destroying things and burning them. At thisstage, police dispersed the crowd.

“The patrolling was carrying on when at 13.30 p.m. a huge crowd came from all directions – Om Nagar,Chakla Road and Meghani Nagar. I called the police on themobile. The mob had talwars, lakdis, pipes and kerosene and they were shouting, ‘Jai Shri Ram!’ The mobwas 20-25,000 strong. We policemen were shouting, trying todisperse the mob. We were using the public announcement system and saying that ‘you are an unlawfulassembly.’ The mob paid no attention to the warnings. Theyturned more violent by this time. The bakeries, the cycle shop, the electric shops, the mattress shops, thefurniture shops and vehicles were completely destroyed. The mobshad put obstruction on the roads and were looting the shops. We let off tear gas and issued warnings, we evenlathi-charged but the crowd was “possessed” and shouting, ‘Jai ShriRam!’ At this stage, four tear gas shells were let off. The mob turned even more violent and startedthrowing stones on the police. The police took all lawful steps. I fired one roundwith my revolver. I tried to take effective steps.

“But the crowd did not disperse. It became violent. Around this time, the Gulbergsociety, which has mainly Muslims living there, was attacked by a mob from behind where the railway stationwas. There was stone throwing and burning and the hugemob even uprooted the railway tracks. I could hear shouts of “Ghusijao”. And from the direction of OmNagar and Chakla road, the mob tore down the gates, startedburning property and people and throwing stones.

“At this stage there was private firing by Muslims. The DCP Zone 4 and addi-tional CP sector two were there. One person, Dinesh, died as a result of police firing. By this time women andmen from the Gulberg society were lying dead.Gulberg society contains 19 blocks and 8 buildings. Women and children were hiding themselves on the loftstosave their lives. From all four sides they wereattacked by mobs: ‘Finish off all Muslims; our people were not spared by them, don’t have mercy’. Thesewere the shouts. We kept issuing warnings to dispersethe mob, we even opened fire. Shravanji Lathoji Vanjara and one more was in-jured in private firing.”In one of its most controversial decisions, the Modi government handed over in-vestigation to PN Barot,assistant police commissioner, a man with connections tothe VHP. It later transferred the case to someone else. In the chargesheet filed, the names of the mainaccused have not been mentioned.

List of accused:

• 1) Girish Prabhudas Sharma (26): In the truck body business: Patni society,Chamanpura. Supplied 5 litre kerosene drums for arson.
• 2) Dinesh Prabhudas Sharma (23): Patni society, Chamanpura. Supplied 5 litre kero-sene drums for arson; supplied petrol drums for burning people.
• 3) Ramesh Choti (30): Son of Panditji: Bangle-seller with a shop next to AshaTrading, Patni Nagar society, Chamanpura.
• 4) Kapil (22): Son of Ram Narain (Munna), works in a petrol pump near SwamiNarayan Mandir; Babusingh Madhesinh society, opp. Gulberg society, Chamanpura. Belongs to the BajrangDal.Supplied trishuls and petrol.
• 5) Suresh Alias Kali Dhobi (22): He is a washerman; Babusingh Madhesinh soci-ety, Opp. Gulberg society,Chamanpura.
• 6) Narayan Tonk alias ‘Kabra Channelwala’ (40): Gheewali Chali, Chamanpura. Stone throwing andstabbing.
• 7) Bharat Lakshman Rajput: He works behind Dr. Sultan’s Dispensary, Chamanpura and lives behind RamjiMandir.
• 8) Surendra (22): Son of Champabehn. His father-in-law owns Asha Trading Com-pany, his mother works inShevan Clinic as a compounder; Dr. Gandhi Chawl,Chamanpura.
• 9) Krishna: son of Champabehn: Dr. Gandhi Chali, Chamanpura.
• 10) Lala Mohanji Darbar: Involved in illegal liquor business. Dr. Gandhi Chali, Chamanpura. He has beenseen by eyewitnesses actually committing rape.
• 11) Sushil Brij Mohan Sharma (26): Works in the Home Guards; Ramchandra colony, Takri, Chamanpura.
• 12) Poona Sinh Rajput (40-42): works in Arvind Mills: Opp. Gheewali Chawl, above Ramlal Uttamchand,Chamanpura. A Congress (I) activist. He was seen with a knife in hand.
• 13) Manish Prabhudas Jain (25): Owner Raja Kirana Store, Dr. Gandhi Chali, Chamanpura.
• 14) Dharmesh (20): Son of Ram Achal Pathak, involved in illegal liquor business,Chandulal Chali, Chamanpura.
• 15) Gabbar: Son of Mandan Jhingar (Thin and short, he has an uncle, in the policewhose name is Ashok Jhingar); Makes chappals; Babusingh Madhesinh Chali, Opp. Gulberg society, Chamanpura. Hewas in Bungalow No. 1 leading the assault on Gulberg society.
• 16) Chunnilal Prajapati (55): Ex-municipal corporator, from BJP, Mohanlal Wadi, Chamanpura. Was seeninciting the mob.
• 17) Mehsingh Dudhsinh Chaudhary (45): Advocate and ex-municipal corporator, Congress: (Jafri, a seniormember of the party, had chosen not to give him a ticket in the recentelections); Chamanpura.
• 18) Jagrup Sinh Rajput (48); Advocate and ex-deputy mayor of Ahmedabad: Navi Chali, Om Nagar Road,Chamanpura.
• 19) Dayaram Mochi and Ashok alias Jhingar: Bungalow No. 1, Gulberg society, Chamanpura. Mochi allowed hishome to be used as a place of attack.
• 20) Mangelal Jain (32): Owner, Adhinath Kirana Store, Opposite Chamanpura Pumping Station. He led theattack on Jafri’s house.
• 21) Dilip Suraj Bali: Ramchandra colony, Near Water Tanker, Chamanpura.
• 22) Naresh Krishnadas Brahmania: In the illegal liquor business; Talati Nagar, NearRohidas Bus Station, Block No. 32, Talati Nagar.
• 23) Lakhia (27): (He is 5 feet 5 inches tall. Has long hair which is red in colour.);Block 55, Talati Nagar. He was responsible for the rapes.
• 24) Girish Alias Kalia (25); Lives near Rohidas bus stop.
• 25) Dhobi Kailash: Living at Gopal Nagar (They said he is dark complexioned, wascarrying a mobile phone, was wearing an earring). He was seen by many persons with a talwar. (Madan Mochi’sson, Gabbar was also seen.)

* Reproduced from Communalism Combat Genocide Gujarat 2002, March-April 2002.