March 2002, the Commission started its functioning at Ahmedabad. On 20 April 2002, it issued a notification inviting persons acquainted with the subject matter of the inquiry relating to the Godhra incident and post-Godhra incidents to furnish to the Commission statements/affidavits. The inquiry was conducted by the commission as an open public inquiry and the public and media were also permitted to remain present at the time of hearings fixed by the commission. . except on one occasion when Mr. Rahul Sharma was asked some questions ‘in camera’ for ascertaining certain facts. That part of his evidence was also made available to the parties later on. It issued summons to railwaymen and higher officers to compel them to produce certain relevant documents. In total 46,494 statements/affidavits were received by the commission. Out of them 2019 were statements/affidavits filed by the Government officers and 44445 statements/ affidavits were received from the public. The commission initially examined the burnt S-6 coach to see its condition and the damage caused to it and later in the light of the evidence collected by it. Part I of the report and conclusions In September 2008, the Commission submitted its 168-paged Part I of the report, dealing with the Godhra train burning incident, which was tabled before the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The report concludes that the burning of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was a premeditated crime and not an accident. It further gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying there was no evidence to show that he or anybody in his Government was involved with incident. Regarding train burning incident Commission concluded that "there was a conspiracy to burn coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express train to cause harm to the Karsevaks travelling in that coach." As per the commission, the conspiracy was hatched by some local Muslims at the Aman guest house in Godhra the previous night and the conspirators immediately made arrangements for collecting about 140 litres of petrol from a nearby pump on the night of 26 February 2002, the next day when the train arrived in Godhra, Hasan Lala, after forcibly opening the vestibule between coaches S-6 and S-7, entered S-6 and threw burning rags setting it on fire. A dismissed Central Reserve Police Force officer named Nanumiyan, and Maulvi Husain Haji Ibrahim Umarji, a cleric in the town of Godhra, were presented as the masterminds