Former Bombay police chief arrested

The shooting followed violent riots in Bombay

By Jill McGivering in Delhi

In Bombay on Wednesday, a former police chief was remanded in custody until 23 August after being arrested late on Tuesday evening.

He faces charges for his role in the fatal shooting by police of nine civilians in January 1993.

The shootings came in the aftermath of violent religious riots in the city which erupted after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992.

The former joint commissioner of police, RD Tyagi, has already been indicted by a special commission of inquiry into the violence at a Muslim bakery in January 1993.

Report

The commission's report accused the police of what it described as "indiscriminate and callous firing" which led to the deaths of nine members of the public, all of them unarmed.

It rejected arguments that the civilians had weapons and were confronting the police when they died.

Post-mortems, said the report, suggest one of the victims was shot in the back whilst trying to flee. Now a special task force, set up by the state government, is trying to implement the commission's findings.

Mr Tyagi was the senior officer responsible for the decision to storm the bakery.

He was unable to appear in court in person on Wednesday because he is being treated in hospital for chest pains.

Fifteen other police officers have also been arrested but allowed bail.

Many here see it as a landmark case - it is one of the first times such a senior police official has been arrested as a result of decisions taken at the time of the violent riots more than eight years ago.