Gandhinagar, December 19: The Gujarat Assembly witnessed an uproarious scene today during Question Hour when Minister of State for Home Amit Shah was replying to a question by BJP MP Pradeepsinh Jadeja of Asarwa on the serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in July last year.
Shah told the House that two terror groups — SIMI and Indian Mujahideen (IM) —were involved in the blasts. He added that it was a matter of pride for the state police and the government that the case was cracked within 20 days, and perpetrators of the crime hailing from Azamgarh (UP) in north to Kerala in the south were arrested.
Lauding the role of the state police, the minister said that the former succeeded in arresting 80 accused from different parts in the country and 12 of them were involved in offences in other states as well.
Then senior Congress member Arjun Modhwadia drew attention of the minister towards two reports that the state Home Department had received: one from Madhya Pradesh Police and another from Central intelligence at Suigam. Both were based on interrogations of SIMI activists Safdar Nagori and Parvez Amil—arrested by MP Police from Indore a few weeks before Ahmedabad and Jaipur were targeted.
Modhwadia, quoting the reports, said that the two SIMI activists had revealed plans to target Jaipur and Ahmedabad and it was communicated to the state Home Department.
It would have been a matter of pride had the police acted on this information and prevented the serial bomb blasts that claimed 58 lives and injured several others, Modhwadia said.
Unfortunately, the police in Gujarat Rajasthan did not act on the information and the result was the serial blasts, he added.
Shah strongly objected to Modhwadia’s statements. The ruling party members joined him, which led to a chaotic situation. Nothing could be heard amid the loud verbal exchanges between the ruling party and the Opposition.
——-Agencies