THEY did not expect a showdown at a memorial prayer meeting. So, when Vithalbhai Pandya said that his son Haren's assassination on March 26 was "a political murder", Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were red in the face. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had to admit that an injustice had been done to the slain leader. Haren Pandya was former Home Minister of Gujarat and Chief Minister Narendra Modi's most fierce opponent in the State BJP.

The next day, Advani flew back to Delhi and announced that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim were involved in the killing. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had barely started work on the case.

Since then, Ahmedabad's Muslim areas have faced the brunt of the `investigation'. In the middle of the night, homes are raided in search of `ISI agents'. Soon after Advani's prophecy, on April 3, the Crime Branch of the State Police arrested five suspected ISI-trained terrorists, who were allegedly involved in the plot to kill Haren Pandya. Soon after, the CBI arrested five more in Andhra Pradesh. Of them, Asgar Ali is allegedly the one who pulled the trigger. In all, the CBI has arrested eight persons from Andhra Pradesh.