Though no arrests were made in Godhra on Saturday in connection with Friday’s incidents of arson and loot, police said they had got hold of a videotape of the event that clearly identifies the perpetrators.
‘‘We have visual evidence and arrests will follow irrespective of the political fallout,’’ said DSP M D Antani.
Antani, who also got flak from MLA Haresh Bhatt for committing excesses on Hindus, said the incident looked premeditated. He confirmed that rumours of ‘private firing’ had been spread to justify stone-throwing in Polan Bazar. No idol was damaged, he said scotching rumours that also contributed to the violence.
The videotape clearly shows out that the ransacking and arson was ‘one-sided’, said Antani who himself was injured and had to repeatedly remind his men of the oath they took when they joined the service. He said force had to be used to prevent more damage to Muslim properties.
There was a deliberate attempt to keep a gap at the end of the procession when it was passing from Rani Masjid in the sensitive Polan Bazar locality, said the DSP. ‘‘The rioters simply refused to move and squatted in the chairs usually occupied by politicians and leaders, we could not have bodily lifted them,’’ Antani said.
Though the four FIRs filed on Saturday did not have any names, Antani said the rioters would be identified and named.
‘‘Stones were pelted only after the police failed to control the group,’’ former MLA Rajendrasinh Patel said demanding a judicial inquiry into the riots. He alleged that the riot was aimed at keeping the communal cauldron boiling.
But Haresh Bhatt, a former national vice-president of Bajrang Dal, had a different take on the incident. ‘‘Riots took place because of police excesses. When a Ganapati procession is stoned, a reaction is natural,’’ he said, though admitting that he got stick from his own supporters. ‘‘They lost control because their expectations were high. They thought the MLA and the government belonged to them but were angry because police dealt strictly with them.’’
When asked whether he himself was not responsible for raising expectations by promising to convert Polan Bazar into a cricket stadium, he skirted the question and blamed his roughing up on politics.
Local VHP leader and advocate Rakesh Thakor said the disturbance was not pre-planned from either side but looked spontaneous. ‘‘It’s possible that Congress activists posed as processionists and scribbled ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on the mosque or urinated near it,’’ Thakor said, admitting that there was a need to change the procession’s route.