Maulana Hussain Umarji, alleged to be the main conspirator in the Godhra train carnage, was remanded to judicial custody at Vadodara Central Jail by a POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) court in Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Tuesday.

POTA Judge Sonia Gokani passed the order, as the special investigating team did not seek further police remand.

Umarji, arrested in the wee hours from Signal Falia area on February 6, 2003, and other accused will be chargesheeted on May 22.

Advocate Mukul Sinha, who is also appearing on behalf of Umarji apart from advocate Haji Hasan, informed the court that they will move for a bail application, which the court said would be heard on June 3.

Umarji, before leaving the court room, told the judge that he would not like to be photographed and requested electronic and other media persons to be vacated from the premises.

Umarji, a local cleric among the Ghanchi community of Godhra, was identified by the Special Investigative Team as the prime conspirator of the Godhra train carnage in which 59 people, mostly ram sevaks returning from Ayodhya, were torched alive inside the S6 bogey of the Sabarmati Express just outside the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.

Investigators had sought the remand of Umarji on three occasions earlier to unearth more details of the conspiracy and Hawala funding that were reportedly stored in his computer and also the whereabouts of several more absconding persons.

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