The Hindu : 'Akshardham temple attackers were from Pakistan'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 28, 2002

Front Page

Front Page

'Akshardham temple attackers were from Pakistan'

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR SEPT. 27. The Gujarat police may have achieved an important breakthrough in the investigations into the attack on the Akshardham temple by identifying the driver of the taxi in which two terrorists are believed to have travelled from the Ahmedabad railway station.

The Director-General of Police, K. Chakravarthi, said here today that the police were yet to confirm and corroborate the information given by the driver on the two terrorists. He denied that the driver, Rajubhai Thakore, and the owner of the taxi, Mansukh Acharya, had been arrested and said that several other taxi drivers too had been picked up for questioning.

The two terrorists came out of the railway station around 2.45 p.m., carrying a huge bag and hired the taxi. During the entire 50-km journey they did not speak to each other except at the Koba-Gandhinagar circle where they asked the driver in Hindi to stop for a while so that they could drink water. They bought a bottle of water from a hotel and then went to Akshardham.

The driver had identified the bodies of the two terrorists to be those of the same persons who travelled in his taxi. Apparently, the terrorists were carrying their arms and ammunition in their bag. The bag, as revealed later, contained a couple of bedrolls in which the arms were hidden.

It was not clear by which train the duo had arrived. It could be any of the five that arrive at the Ahmedabad station around the time, including the Jammu-Tawi Express and the Howrah-Ahmedabad Express.

The anti-terrorist squad of the State police has obtained the reservation charts of all the trains to ascertain from where the duo might have boarded the train.

A report received here said that both the terrorists were Pakistani nationals, one a resident of Lahore and the other of Peshawar. However, the DGP did not confirm their identity.

Mr. Chakravarthi said that prima facie it did not seem that the taxi driver or its owner was part of the terrorist gang. Rajubhai Thakore, who worked for Mansukh Acharya, has been driving the same taxi for the last five years and had always been operating from the railway station.

He dropped the duo near gate number three of Akshardham and left. After about 30 minutes, the random shooting began. The DGP said the police had received "several leads and information'' and were collecting "evidences".

While ruling out that the two terrorists could be "locals" and that the attack was for taking "revenge" against the Gujarat killings — as the unsigned letters found on the terrorists' bodies indicated— Mr. Chakravarthi said the "support" of some local people could not be ruled out.

It was not possible for any outsider to launch an attack on the Akshardham temple without having an intricate knowledge of the complex. It was likely that the terrorists had visited the complex earlier, and were possibly helped by some local people, before launching the attack.

It was clear that the two were "highly motivated and well-trained".

Mr. Chakravarthi said there were "hundreds of soft targets" like the Akshardham.

The State Government had requested the Centre to station for some more time the 12 columns of Army, deployed in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Godhra, Dahod and some other sensitive towns during the bandh on Tuesday, the 12 companies of the CRPF and four companies of the BSF.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

'Akshardham temple attackers were from Pakistan'

The Jammu connection

R.K. Sharma surrenders in Ambala court

A fallout of Gujarat riots: Musharraf

PM seeks details on Cauvery panel's visit

Pre-emption should be considered: Powell

Sri Lanka in finals

Srinath recalled

NC candidate escapes bid

Abu Salem's module busted