BJP National President Amit Shah. (file photo)
A special court hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case on Tuesday order summons to be issued to BJP national president Amit Shah to depose as defence witness on September 18.
The court passed the orders after former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Naroda Patiya massacre case during the 2002 riots, had sought additional time to issue summons to Shah to appear in her defence in court.
Kodnani’s lawyer Amit Patel today moved an application and prayed that summons be issued to Amit Shah at his Ahmedabad address. The court also granted direct service to her lawyer for sending the summons. Sources said that it is now up to Shah whether to depose in her defence or not.
On September 8, she informed the court that till date she hadn’t been able to contact Shah. In her application, moved by lawyer Hiren Patel, Kodnani said: “I want to inform this court that this applicant accused has tried to contact my defence witness (Shah), but till today I couldn’t contact him and under these circumstances, I couldn’t examine this witness… therefore, in the name of justice, grant me ten more days to exercise my right.”
Kodnani is among 82 accused in the Naroda Gam case in which 11 Muslims were killed on February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express was torched at the Godhra railway station, killing 59 on board coach S-6, mostly kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya. She is accused of conspiracy, murder among other charges in the Naroda Gam case.
