Naroda Gaam case: Amit Shah appears in SIT court as defence witness for former BJP minister Maya Kodnani

Ahmedabad: BJP president Amit Shah on Monday appeared before a special SIT court in Ahmedabad as a defence witness for former BJP Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case. Shah’s deposition started before Judge PB Desai who had last Tuesday summoned him in response to an application filed by Kodnani. The court had allowed Kodnani’s plea to summon Shah and some others as witnesses in her defence in April 2017. On the day of the Naroda Gam riot near Ahmedabad, she said, she had visited the Sola Civil Hospital after attending the Legislative Assembly and was not present at the spot where the violence took place. [caption id=“attachment_4055477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amit Shah arriving at the court. Image courtesy: Kamini Vyas[/caption] Shah, then an MLA, was also present at Sola Civil Hospital where bodies of the karsevaks killed in the Sabarmati Train burning incident were brought from Godhra. Shah’s testimony will help prove her ‘alibi’, that she was present elsewhere when the crime took place, she said. Kodnani, who was an MLA in 2002, was made a junior minister in Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2007. Three weeks ago, the Supreme Court had asked the SIT court to conclude the trial within four months. A bench headed by then Chief Justice JS Khehar asked the lower court to complete recording of evidence of defence witnesses in two months. Naroda Gam is one of the nine major 2002 communal riot cases which were investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team. Eleven Muslims were killed in Naroda Gam area on 28 February, 2002, a day after the Godhra train incident. A total of 82 persons are facing trial in the case. Kodnani has been convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case.