By PTI
AHMEDABAD: A special court, hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case, will hold a screening of videos pertaining to the riots on Wednesday in order to ascertain the roles of certain accused.
The prosecution, which is at present arguing the case, had requested the court to screen the recordings on CDs in its possession.
Judge M K Dave of the special SIT court allowed the request after the defence, as well as the victims' lawyers, consented.
The prosecution had asked for the screening of three CDs, including that of "Operation Kalank" in which two accused --former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and Jaideep Patel -- are seen making extra-judicial confessions related to the killings during the riots.
The "Operation Kalank" CD is part of a sting operation carried out by former journalist Ashish Khetan and published by Tehelka magazine in its November 2007 issue.
The video was also aired by some news channels.
The statements of Bajrangi and Patel, as recorded in the sting carried out on them by Khetan, will help the court ascertain the criminal conspiracy angle, the prosecution argued.
The other two CDs, which will be screened in the open court, are videos recorded by investigating agencies of areas that were affected by the riots.
While one was recorded by police immediately after the riots, the other was made after the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) took over the investigation in 2008.
They carry footage of areas in Naroda Gam where the killings took place.
The Naroda Gam riot case is one of the nine major 2002 communal riot cases which were investigated by the SIT.
Eleven Muslims were killed in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad in 2002 during the violence, which erupted after the Godhra train burning incident.
A total of 82 people are facing trial in the case, including Maya Kodnani, once a minister in the Narendra Modi-led state government.
She was sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case before the Gujarat High Court acquitted her in April this year.
