Image of Special Public Prosecutor goes viral as accused in Godhra train burning case

The person in the image is RC Kodekar, who served as the prosecutor in the 2002 Godhra train burning case

An image of a person making the rounds on social media in connection with the February 2002 train burning case in Godhra, Gujarat.  

The caption of the post states that “This is Rafiq hussain Bhathuk, a Muslim leader and owner of two petrol pumps in Godhra. He orchestrated the arrangement of petrol to set the Sabarmati Express on fire”.

But on investigation we found that the picture is not Rafiq Hussain as alleged in the post but RC Kodekar who was the Special Public Prosecutor in the Godhra train burning case.

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Fact Check-

The picture in circulation is of RC Kodekar, the special public prosecutor in the Godhra train fire case. Since 2022, his picture has been shared on social media with a false description. He filed a police complaint against this. 

We discovered some news involving the same image when we performed a reverse image search on the picture. On ANI’s YouTube channel had an interview with public prosecutor Kodekar after Rafiq Hussain got life term for conspiracy to murder.

An explanation was released on ANI News on Twitter, stating that their previous post had been misinterpreted and that Kodekar’s picture was wrongly identified as that of Godhra fire case suspect Rafiq Hussain. It states, “This is to clarify that the picture in this earlier tweet is of RC Kodekar, Special Public Prosecutor NOT criminal Rafiq Bhathuk. A viral post on ‘X’ has posted ANI’s picture with incorrect identification”.

We searched for news related to the February 2002 Godhra train burning case. Rafiq Hussain is one of the accused in the case and he was arrested by the police from Delhi in 2021. We found the image of Rafiq Hussain Bhatuk in a report published by Hindustan Times on 4July, 2022.

The Godhra train burning incident, which happened on 27 February, 2002, led to widespread riots throughout Gujarat at that time. A mob set ablaze a coach of the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra railway station, resulting in the deaths of 59 passengers on board. Around 2,000 karsevaks had boarded the train from Ayodhya to participate in the Purnahuti Maha Yagna organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The yagna was part of the Ram Temple building programme.

The image of public prosecutors in the Godhra train fire case is being circulated with a misleading narrative. 

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo discovered that the claim made along the viral video to be False. An image of Special Public Prosecutor goes viral as accused in Godhra train burning case. The person in the image is RC Kodekar, who served as the prosecutor in the 2002 Godhra train burning case