Ahmedabad: The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad on Wednesday made one of the biggest breakthrough in the 2002 Godhara case. The anti-terrorist squad nabbed the mastermind of the ‘2002 Sabarmati Express train burning incident’ case Farooq Bhana after a 14-year long manhunt.

Officials said that Bhana will be handed over to Supreme Court appointed-Special Investigation Team (SIT) which investigated the case.

The train burning incident saw the loss of 59 lives at Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, and that widespread riots in various parts of the state came in the aftermath of the incident.

SP Himanshu Shukla said that Farooq Bhana, an ex corporator of Godhra municipality, was arrested from Kalol in Panchmahal district where “a clandestine meeting with his family members was to be held.” Officials said that Bhana is allegedly the main conspirator who had held a meeting at Aman guest house in Phoolan Bazar, adjacent to Godhra railway station.

“Bhana had told in the meeting that the Sabarmati Express will be late and instead of 2 AM it would reach at 7 AM”. ATS officials said.

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