Railways, documentary crew refute report that coach was set ablaze to recreate Godhra train burning
The documentary about Narendra Modi is reportedly slated for a social media release ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Railway officials and the producers of a documentary on Monday refuted a news report that a train’s coach was set on fire in Vadodara on Sunday to recreate the 2002 Godhra train burning, PTI reported. A report in The Indian Express had claimed that the Western Railway and the Vadodara Fire Department had reportedly given permission to the producers of the documentary to shoot the scene.
On February 27, 2002, coach S6 of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire at Godhra station and 59 people, most of them pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, had died. The incident triggered communal riots across Gujarat in which close to 1,000 people were killed. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time.
An executive of the production company said the documentary “captures the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. It is slated for a release ahead of the Lok Sabha elections this year.
Jayraj Gadhvi, a supervising executive of the documentary, told PTI that the crew had used a damaged coach that the Railways uses for mock drills, and the coach was provided by authorities to recreate the burning of the coach.
“Permission was given to shoot the documentary film here,” said Western Railway Public Relations Officer Khemraj Meena. “It was shot at the narrow gauge Vishwamitri railway station. No rail traffic was affected in the process of the shoot and the bogie being used for the shoot was provided by us. It is a mock-drill bogie and was unused.”
Meena later told PTI that the documentary’s crew had agreed to return the coach in the same condition that they received it in. “There are no reports from our officials which suggested that the coach was set on fire yesterday,” said Meena.
Dhaval Pandya, a senior executive overseeing the shoot, however clarified that the coach was not set on fire. “We had not set the coach on fire yesterday as claimed by by some newspapers,” Pandya said. “After shooting that damaged coach in the same condition, we will apply special effects during editing to show it burning. That scene will be of only 20 seconds.”
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story had identified the documentary incorrectly. The story has now been edited. The story has also been updated after the Railways and the production company refuted the original report by The Indian Express.