NEW DELHI, 3 September 2004 — India’s new government set up a panel yesterday to investigate a train fire in which 59 Hindu activists were burned alive and which led to riots in Gujarat state two and a half years ago.

Railways Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had earlier said that the railways had never conducted a proper inquiry into the Godhra incident. He claimed that the Union government, railways and the Gujarat state government had suppressed the facts.

“It is mandatory for the commissioner of railway safety to conduct a probe into such incidents. But in this case, the probe was never conducted,” he said.

Lalu had earlier claimed in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, that the fire had been ignited from inside the compartment. It could have been caused by a short circuit or some inflammable material inside the compartment.

To back his contention Lalu had read out a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory of Gujarat of May 17, 2002, according to which the fire was caused by inflammable material inside the compartment.

The probe is a blow to the Hindu nationalist state government, which was accused of not preventing the worst religious riots in a decade and of turning a blind eye to the reprisal killings of more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, by Hindu mobs. Voluntary groups put the death toll from the riots at 2,500. Doubts have persisted about the fire’s cause and political leaders had called for a fresh probe into the incident.

“The Cabinet gave its approval for the constitution of a high-level committee consisting of a retired judge of the Supreme Court to inquire into the incident of fire on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra in February 2002,” Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters.

The committee would be empowered under Section 11 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, with all the provisions of the said act, Chidambaram said.

He said the panel would submit its findings and recommendations to the government on railway safety and systems, including rescue and relief operations and preventive measures to avoid a recurrence of such a fire.

A top Indian police officer said on Tuesday interference by leaders of the ruling party of Gujarat state had hindered fair investigation of cases related to the religious riots. India’s Supreme Court has closely monitored the investigation of riot cases in Gujarat and has regularly pressured the state government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to ensure victims a fair trial.

The court has also asked the state government headed by the BJP’s Narendra Modi, who was accused of not doing enough to prevent the religious riots, to re-investigate more than 2,000 cases closed by police on grounds that suspects could not be traced. Modi denies the accusations.