SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

TEHELKA: What was the name of that inspector you were talking about.

Jain: [KG] Erda [Meghaninagar police inspector]…

TEHELKA: Erda… what did he do?

Jain: He supported us… Those people kept away from the public that day.

TEHELKA: Kept away from Muslims?

Jain: From the public…. from Hindus… they told us that everything should be finished within two or three hours.

TEHELKA: That means they gave you two or three hours…

Jain: To finish…

TEHELKA: To finish everything…

Jain: This was happening across all of Ahmedabad. [It was understood] no outsider would come. Even reinforcements weren’t going to come… The force wouldn’t get there till evening… So we were to do all the work.

TEHELKA: He told you to do it all in two to three hours…

Jain: He said it and the mob went berserk. Some started looting. Others started killing… Someone dragged a man out and hacked him down and burned him… A lot of this kind of stuff happened…

TEHELKA: You were caught after two months?

Jain: I surrendered after two months.

TEHELKA: Did you appear in court?

Jain: Not in court… I appeared before the Crime Branch people. Sadavrati saheb was there… I called him home. We had dinner. He told me to surrender. I did as he said…

TEHELKA: Sadavrati cooperated?

Jain: Cooperated… he met me in the evening…

TEHELKA:Was he of help…

Jain: He said that Mangilal’s name was there. He told me to surrender…

TEHELKA: At your house?

Jain: At my house… Don’t worry [he said], have no fear and produce yourself at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning… All will be well… Your son will be out in a month or two… Now that his name is on record, there’s no way out… If his name is there, it means he has to appear… Even a PM or CM can’t help it… So I surrendered to the Crime Branch… they took good care of me…

TEHELKA: They took good care of you…

Jain: Yes sir… down there in the lock-up, there were mosquitoes and it’s filthy… We were not kept there… there was a room up above their office… We were kept in the office…There were mattresses… food from my home would come for me twice a day… We were there for three days …

TEHELKA: Three days…

Jain: We were produced in court on the first day…

TEHELKA: Where did they record you as being picked up from?

Jain: They said that we were picked up from home.…

TEHELKA: They said this…

Jain: Yes, that’s what they said… That’s what the police are like, they say one thing and do something else… All they want is to keep their own names looking clean…

TEHELKA: But they took good care of you…

Jain: It was good… We got there in the evening… we would get tea twice a day and we could make phone calls… I would get calls from home… we would also make calls… we had full phone facilities… We were in the Crime Branch for three days… we were not even touched… I have to say this… nobody laid a finger on me… They took my statement that day itself… “What happened… Where were you that day…” [was all they asked.]

TEHELKA: What did you say?

Jain: I said the shop was closed and I had gone there to watch… I was part of the group… I said I was in the group… and my house was at a distance from that place and there was a huge crowd, I didn’t recognise anyone who did the killing… That’s what I’d say… “Don’t know who was doing the killing… Everybody was raising slogans… so was I…” That’s what I told them, and then I said that after it all, I got home by 2… That’s what I said…

TEHELKA: That’s what you said…

Jain: What I said…

TEHELKA: Didn’t they try forcing you to tell the truth?

Jain: No, sir… I wasn’t even touched… Whatever I said, they noted down…

TEHELKA: Noted just as you said…

Jain: They didn’t say anything to me… I was on remand for two days… the remand was over on the first day itself… It was just for name’s sake… For two days I would get my tiffin from home… my family members would come to meet me… I had every convenience…

TEHELKA: Meaning the remand was just a formality… a legal process…

Jain: These people followed full legal process…