Gujarat riots: Amit Shah says accused minister wasn't present

Gujarat: BJP President Amit Shah appears before a sessions court in Ahmedabad as Maya Kodnani's witness in 2002 Naroda Gam riots case.


Shah informed the sessions court in Ahmedabad that Maya Kodani, a former Gujarat minister, was not present in Naroda Gam on the day riots broke out. Shah claimed that he met Kodnani at the Gujarat Assembly on February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express was torched at the Godhra railway station, reports the Indian Express.


The BJP president was issued summons after Maya Kodnani's counsel informed the court that Shah was inaccessible.


Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani is among the 82 accused of killing 11 Muslims in Naroda Gam. She has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in the Naroda Patiya massacre case in which 97 Muslims were killed. Shah is among the list of 14 defence witnesses summoned by the court.


Twelve persons have already given their testimony while the thirteenth was not examined as a witness. Kodnani wants to prove her alibi that on the day of the Naroda Gam killings, she was not at the spot.