NEW DELHI: Rakesh Asthana, the former Special Director of the CBI who investigated the 2002 Godhra train burning, has rejected a passage in Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' that describes the cause of the Godhra fire as "disputed", news agency ANI reported on Saturday, November 14.

Source: ANI via APNA MA TV, Nov 14, 2026

In the memoir, Gandhi writes: "The riots were triggered when four coaches of the Sabarmati Express were set on fire and 59 pilgrims died. The train was returning to the state capital Ahmedabad from Ayodhya, carrying Hindu karsevaks, volunteers for the Ram temple. The cause of the fire remains disputed, but the turmoil that followed spread to many parts of the state."

Reacting to the passage in an interview with ANI, Asthana said: "That is completely wrong, the investigation is authentic. It has been proved in the court of law. Even now, if someone is creating doubt about it, then it is for political reasons; there can be no other explanation for it." He said the investigation was completed and forensic evidence had established the cause of the fire.

Source: ANI via APNA MA TV, Nov 14, 2026

Asthana headed the Gujarat Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the Godhra incident. He said the claim that it was an accidental fire and that there was no mob violence is not supported by the investigation, ANI reported through Inshorts.

Source: ANI via Inshorts, Nov 14, 2026

Asked whether the doubts were being raised because of a "vote bank", Asthana said all those who died in Godhra were Hindus, but added: "Whoever's death it may be — whether a Hindu's, a Muslim's, a Christian's, or a Sikh's — death is death, murder is murder. So we investigated it as a criminal act." In the same ANI interview, he denied that then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had pressured or influenced the investigators, saying his team had complete freedom to investigate.

What the courts decided

On February 27, 2002, the Sabarmati Express carrying Hindu karsevaks was set on fire by a mob at Godhra, killing 59 people, including women and children, and communal riots followed across Gujarat. A special court convicted 31 people in the Godhra train burning case in 2011; the Gujarat High Court later upheld the convictions of 11 of them and acquitted 20, and the Supreme Court upheld the High Court verdict, dismissing the convicts' appeals, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via APNA MA TV, Nov 14, 2026

The memoir, released on November 10, had already triggered a BJP-Congress war of words over its chapters on the Babri Masjid demolition, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Emergency and the 2002 Gujarat riots, with BJP spokesperson C.R. Kesavan suggesting the book should have been titled 'Whitewashing' instead of 'Belonging', while Congress leaders defended Gandhi's right to recount her experiences. Asthana's intervention is a new development in that row: it is the first rebuttal from the officer who led the Godhra probe itself.

Source: Daily Jagran (ANI), Nov 11, 2026