A special trial court hearing the Naroda Gam massacre, a post-Godhra riots case in which 11 persons of the minority community were killed, is set to record the statement of a key accused, Maya Kodnani, on Thursday.
Dr. Kodnani, a former Minister in the then Modi government in Gujarat, was earlier awarded a 28-year jail term in the Naroda Patiya massacre of 98 members of the minority community.
She is currently out on bail granted to her by the High Court, which is also hearing her appeal challenging the trial court verdict sentencing her in the case.
The special SIT trial court judge P.B. Desai will record the statement of Dr. Kodnani and other accused in the case, the last to be probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). The trial courts hearing the Godhra train burning case, the Gulbarg Society massacre case and Naroda Patiya massacre case have already given their verdicts.
The court has so far recorded the statements of 48 of the 83 accused. In September last year, the apex court had directed the trial court to conclude the case in six months.
Besides Dr. Kodnani, who was a BJP legislator representing Naroda assembly segment during the 2002 riots, the key accused in the case are former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, who was also convicted in the Naroda Patiya massacre case along with Dr. Kodnani, and former VHP leader Jaideep Patel.
