Naroda Gam riot: Court summons Shah as witness

A Special Investigation Team court, hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case on Tuesday, summoned Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah to appear as a defence witness for former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, one of the prime accused. On a petition filed by Kodnani, special SIT judge P B Desai summoned Shah to appear before the court on September 18.

A special investigation team (SIT) court hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case on Tuesday summoned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah to appear as a defence witness for former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, one of the prime accused.

On a petition filed by Kodnani, special SIT judge P B Desai summoned Shah to appear before the court on September 18.

The court said it would not re-issue the summons in case Shah fails to present himself on a given date.

Kodnani's advocate Amit Patel submitted before the court the residential address of Shah in Thaltej area of Ahmedabad city, after which the court issued the summons to him on the same address.

Earlier, Kodnani had failed to give the address to which the summons to Shah were to be issued.

Her advocate had twice sought time for four days each to her to find out and submit the address on which the summons could be issued to Shah.

The court had in April allowed Kodnani's plea to have the summons issued to Shah and some others as witnesses in her defence.

At the subsequent hearings, the court had asked Kodnani to tell it whether Shah will depose as her witness.

Kodnani, in her application to prove her innocence, said on the day of incident she had visited Sola Civil Hospital after attending the state legislative assembly.