Babu Bajrangi had been boastful of his role in inciting the riotous mob to kill, saying he felt he had "done something like Maharana Pratap".
In a sting operation by Tehelka in 2007, Bajrangi had boasted of how he had collected bombs and guns and mobilised a group to massacre the Muslims in the Ahmedabad locality on February 28, 2002.
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Appalling: Babu Bajrangi gestures from the window of a police vehicle outside the court yesterday. Pic/AFP
His reason: anger over the burning to death of 59 kar sewaks in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on February 27.
“I could not bear what I saw… The next day, we gave them a fitting reply,” he told Tehelka.
Asked by the Tehelka reporter if he was present during the killings, Bajrangi said, “Yes, yes, I was with them… So the Godhra incident happened and after what I saw, I just came back to Naroda and we took revenge.”
Bajrangi took the mob through Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon, peopled mostly by Muslims. Most of those killed were either hacked or chased into a huge pit and set on fire.
“I came back after I killed them, called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap… I’d heard stories about him, but that day I myself did what he did.”u00a0
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