Naroda Gam riot case: Amit Shah summoned as Kodnani's defence witness

Kodnani has claimed that on the day of the incident she had visited Sola civil hospital where Shah, who was an MLA at that time, was also present.

BJP president Amit Shah was on Tuesday summoned by a special SIT court to appear as a defence witness for former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, a prime accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case.

Kodnani has claimed that on the day of the incident she had visited Sola civil hospital where Shah, who was an MLA at that time, was also present.

Special SIT judge P B Desai summoned Shah to appear before the court on September 18, said a PTI report.

Earlier, Kodnani had failed to give the address to which the summons to Shah were to be issued. The court had in April allowed Kodnani's plea to have the summons issued to Shah and some others as witnesses in her defence.

The court had earlier given time to Kodnani to find out and submit the address on which the summons could be issued to Shah. Previously, Kodnani's advocate Amit Patel submitted Shah's address in Thaltej area of Ahmedabad city, a PTI report said.

The massacre in Naroda Gam in Ahmedabad is one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases which were investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). Eleven persons belonging to the minority community were killed in Naroda Gam in the 2002 riots, during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning incident.

A total of 82 persons are facing trial in the case.

Kodnani, who was then a minister in the Narendra Modi-led state government, has already been convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail in the case of riot at Naroda Patiya where 97 people were massacred.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs