This was one of the nine Gujarat riot cases investigated by the SIT
A special trial court in Himmatnagar in north Gujarat is likely to deliver its verdict today on the killing of four persons, including three British nationals, during the 2002 riots in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning.
This was one of the nine Gujarat riot cases investigated by the Special Investigation Team or the SIT appointed by the Supreme Court in 2008. On February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning incident, Imran Dawood and his UK-based uncles, Saeed Dawood and Mohammad Aswat, were allegedly attacked by a mob near Pranjit in North Gujarat.
The Dawood family were in India for a visit and were returning to their native village in south Gujarat from a trip to Jaipur when they were allegedly attacked by a mob. While Saeed, Shakeel, Mohammad Aswat and their car driver Yusuf Piraghar, a local, were burnt alive allegedly by the mob, Imran managed to save himself with the help of police.
Six persons were arrested by the police and charged by the SIT with the killing of four persons, including three Indian-origin Britons.
Imran, who is based in the UK, had recorded his statement to the police via video conferencing in 2010. However, some witnesses in the case had turned hostile during the course of trial.
The Supreme Court started monitoring the progress of nine cases from the post-Godhra riots period - Prantij, Gulberg Society, Naroda Patiya, Naroda Gaam, Ode village (two cases), Dipda Darwaja, Sardarpura and Godhra - after the National Human Rights Commission and various NGOs termed the investigation as shoddy and unreliable.