Godhra case: 2 held guilty, 3 acquitted

A Special SIT court on Monday convicted two more people and acquitted three others in the 2002 Godhra train burning case in which 58 people lost their lives.

Special judge HC Vora convicted Farukh Bhana and Imran alias Sheru Batik, and acquitted Hussain Suleman Mohan, Kasam Bhamedi and Faruk Dhantiya.

The five accused, who were arrested by different investigation agencies between 2015-2016, were put on trial at the special court, set up at the Sabarmati Central Jail here.

Earlier, on March 1, 2011, the special SIT court had convicted 31 people under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Out of 31 convicted, 11 people were sentenced to death while 20 were awarded life imprisonment. As many as 63 people had also been acquitted in the case.

Around 58 people lost their lives when some coaches of Sabarmati Express were torched at the Godhra Railway Station in Gujarat on February 27, 2002. The incident had triggered large scale riots in Gujarat.