Babu Bajrangi's wife writes to Governor, seeks his release from jail

Ahmedabad: The wife of former Bajrang Dal leader and one of the convicts in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riot case, Babu Bajrangi, has written to the Gujarat Governor OP Kohli, seeking her husband’s release on compassionate grounds. “My mother Meena Patel wrote a letter to Governor a few weeks ago, requesting to release my father as he is turning blind now,” Bajrangi’s son Tarun told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_2146563” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Babu Bajrangi in a file photo. Ibnlive[/caption] “We have not received any reply so far,” he said. Officials of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team and the Governor’s office said they had no information about the letter. Naroda Patiya was one of the nine cases probed by the SIT. Bajrangi is lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail here. He had been released on temporary bail by the Gujarat High Court five times on various grounds. He is one of the 31 convicts in the Naroda Patiya case. As many as 97 people of Muslim community were killed in Naroda Patiya area during the post-Godhra riots. He was awarded ‘imprisonment till death’ by the special trial court in August 2012. The court also awarded 28 years’ imprisonment to former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani in the case, describing the 2002 riots “a black chapter in the history of democratic India”. Bajrangi’s appeal against the conviction is pending before the Gujarat High Court. PTI