A woman passenger travelling in the ill-fated S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express, which was set on fire at Godhra, on Friday told an inquiry commission that a "minority community tea vendor who entered the bogey was jostled out by agitated karsevaks".

Sheila Pal, a native of Kanpur travelling from Kanpur to Vapi with her husband and daughter-in-law, Sima Pal, deposed before K G Shah and G T Nanavati inquiry commission that there was some scuffle at the platform followed by heavy stone pelting on their bogey from outside.

Pal said her husband initially had got off at the Godhra station to get tea and decided to have it inside the bogey.

She told the commission that when a tea vendor with a topi (traditional Muslim cap) came inside to give the cups, agitated karsevaks told her not to have tea from his hands and jostled him out of the train.

According to her deposition, backed by her previous statement in the police First Information Report, Pal said there was heavy stone pelting from both the sides of the track and her husband managed to jump off.

She added that as she was searching for her daughter-in-law, a bottle containing some inflammables burst on the floor and her sari and shawl caught fire. She informed the commission that her pregnant daughter-in-law was still missing.

Pal said all she could remember amid the smoke was that someone pushed her out of the door of the bogey and took her to safety.

Justice K G Shah (retired) said, "Out of the 40-odd witnesses who have deposed before us she is the only one who has said that a Muslim tea vendor did enter the bogey, but was pushed out by karsevaks present."

The commission is set to visit the S-6 bogey on December 22 and then head for Baroda where they expect the district administration to make arrangements to meet victims from the city and nearby Panchmahals and Bharuch districts.