Suneet Shah, the Gujarat government's pleader, was arguing the police's theory that the S-6 compartment of the Sabarmati Express was burnt down as part of a pre-planned conspiracy on February 27, 2002.

For the last five years, Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Gujarat government and its investigators have tried to prove the incident was a pre-planned act of terror by 'jihadis' that was executed by local Muslims living in the Signal Falia colony near the Godhra railway station.

The Godhra train fire, in which 59 people -- mostly kar sevaks belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad -- were charred to death, triggered a wave of communal violence in the state that killed more than 1,000 people.

After the bloodlust came the state assembly election. Modi propagated with devastating success his thesis of an Islamist conspiracy, and won the elections hands down. The Gujarat electorate saw Modi as the protector against 'jihadis.'

But it is proving difficult for the government's prosecutors to hold their ground before Justices Nanavati and K G Shah and to argue -- let alone prove -- the intricate details of the burning of the S-6 compartment.

The two-member Commission is probing the Godhra incident and how and why riots broke out after that. It is also probing the role and conduct of the chief minister and the members of his cabinet.

If needed, the Commission can summon Modi or his ministers, but it will depend on the credibility of evidence.

Even 'pro-government' Gujarati newspapers reported last week that Mukul Sinha, the lawyer representing the accused in the Godhra trial, impressively presented his case that the burning of the compartment was merely an accident.

Image: A worker washes a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram.

Also see:
Complete Coverage: The Gujarat riots

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