NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 18, 2005: The burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, which triggered religious riots that killed some 1,000 people, was caused by an accidental fire and not Muslims as charged by Hindu nationalists, an inquiry panel said. Retired judge U.C.Banerjee, heading a railroad department inquiry into the train burning, said Monday: “The fire … can at this stage be ascribed as an ‘accidental fire.’ ” Judge Banerjee said Monday that he found it “unbelievable” that the devotees armed with tridents “would allow to get themselves burnt without a murmur” by a person entering the train car from inside. “The possibility of an inflammable liquid having been used is completely ruled out as there was first a smell of burning, followed by dense smoke and flames thereafter,” the report said.
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