Gujarat riots: Chargesheet filed against Kodnani

The Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team, probing certain Gujarat riot cases afresh, on Friday filed a chargesheet in Naroda Gam case in which Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former state minister Maya Kodnani is one of the prime accused.

"We have submitted a chargesheet against the accused in a local court in Ahmedabad. The charges have been framed under Indian Penal Code Sections 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy, 302 for murder, 307 for attempt to murder, 395 and 397 for loot and 143 to 147 for rioting," a senior official in the SIT told PTI.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of metropolitan magistrate G M Patel. He said all the accused including Kodnani and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaidip Patel were present in the court when chargesheet was filed.

According to SIT sources, chargesheet has been filed against four accused Maya Kodnani, Jaidip Patel, suspended police officer V S Gohil and one Pankaj Parikh in the case.

The chargesheet said Maya and Patel had a led a mob during the 2002 riots which killed 11 people. Kodnani and Patel are behind bars while V S Gohil, who was a police inspector of Naroda in 2002, and Parikh are out on bail.