How it happened in Ode in Gujarat

A mob of 1,500 to 2,000 people come out in the streets of the small village of Ode on March 1, 2002, and began attacking the houses and establishments of the Muslim community.
 

The rioters first attacked the Muslim houses in the Surewalil Bhagol area but they fled when the police arrived and fired to disperse the mob. A youth, Nisith Patel, was killed in the police firing.

The rioters regrouped and targeted 8 Muslim homes in the Pirawali Bhagol area of the village.

The mob threw petrol-filled pouches and burning rags into the houses where the ill-fated Muslims had taken shelter.
The houses that were attacked soon caught fire and were reduced to ashes one by one. The 23 people who had taken shelter in one of the houses were burnt to death though the remains of only two of the victims could be found
after the incident.

An elderly man, Akbar Khan Pathan, and his son, Mohammad Khan, somehow survived the attack. Both are among the key witnesses of the prosecution. 

Those who had seen the entire incident from adjacent localities are also among the 158 important witnesses of the cases. Two security personnel of Gram Rakshak Dal Jawan (GRD) were also injured by the mob.

As most members of the minority community had fled the village, the incident came to light only the following the day after which the police registered a case.

However, the next day, one Rasoolmiya, who had stayed back in the village, was also killed by a riotous mob.