A local court in Godhra on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to Rafiq Bhatuk, an accused in the 2002 Godhra Sabarmati train carnage, who had been on the run for 19 years and was arrested in February 2021.
The court of an Additional Sessions Judge at Godhra held Bhatuk guilty in the case, which killed 59 karsevaks returning by Sabarmati train from Ayodhya on February 27, 2002.
According to the district pleader of Panchmahal, the accused is the 35th to be convicted in the case while four more are currently absconding.
As argued by special public prosecutor RC Kodekar, Bhatuk was part of the “core” mob that set the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on fire at Godhra station.
