Ahmedabad: Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah today deposed before a special court here as a defence witness for former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, in the 2002 Naroda Gam case. Naroda case involves alleged killing of 11 persons of minority community here during the Gujarat riots that broke out a day after the coach of Sabarmati express was set afire on February 27 near Godhara which killed 59 Karsevaks. Mr Shah, during his over half-an-hour long presence in the court and cross examination, supported Kodnani’s claim that she was in the Gujarat assembly and later at Sola civil hospital on the day of the incident i.e 28th February.
He also said that he does not know where she was during the in between period and after leaving the hospital escorted by police. Shah said that Kodnani, a doctor (gynaecologist) by profession who was also an MLA (Naroda constituency in Ahmedabad) of the party like him at the time of the incident was present in the Assembly which was in session that day when a condolence motion for the slain of Godhara train burning incident of a day before was moved. The House was adjourned after that and after that he went to Sola civil hospital in his car along with his driver where the bodies of the train burning victims were brought. The hospital fell in his then assembly segment of Sarkhej and he went there as he was receiving phone calls from there.
The family members of the deceased were also present in the hospital. There was a lot of commotion and confusion in the hospital and people were very angry. There were many other people whom he knew were also present there. Replying to a query, he said, ‘I saw Mayaben entering the hospital while I was going out. Amid the built up anger Mayaben and I were taken aside in a police jeep.’ He, however, said that he did not know about the whereabouts of Kodnani during the period between her presence in Assembly and Hospital. ‘Kodnani was inside the state assembly at 8.30 AM. I had seen her that day. I left the Assembly and reached the hospital at around 9:30 or 9:45 am. I also saw Kodnani while leaving the hospital between 11 and 11.15 AM. We both were escorted out by police from the hospital, after which we went our separate ways,’ Shah said, adding that the police dropped him near Gota area in the city from where he went in his own vehicle. He said that he did not recognise the signature of Mayaben. He also said that he did not know driving and his vehicle was always driven by his driver.
To some queries, he said that he was unable to recall the exact time of the event. He also said that he had never before deposed before SIT in the matter as he was never asked to do so though he knew about the advertisement of SIT in newspapers asking anyone with evidence in the riots cases to come forward and assist the probe. The SIT charge sheet claims that Kodnani allegedly had left the assembly at 8.40 AM that day and reached Naroda Gam at around 9.30 AM. The SIT has quoted eyewitnesses and claimed that signals from Kodnani’s mobile phone suggested that she was at the spot till 10.30 am.
