Ahmedabad: Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) president Amit Shah is in Ahmedabad to address cooperative sammelan at Gujarat University convention hall today afternoon.

Ahead of that Shah is going to depose at Sessions court in Ahmedabad as defense witness for year 2002 Naroda gam riot case accused and former state minister Maya Kodnani.

Shah had been asked by special court Judge PB Desai who had also made it clear it will not re-issue the summons if he failed to appear. In April, Kodnani, a gynaecologist, was allowed to summon Mr Shah as a defence witness.On two previous occasions, Kodnani had failed to furnish the address to which the summons was to be issued. Stating she was not present in the spot on February 28, 2002, the day the massacre took place, Kodnani claimed she had attended the assembly session before going to Sola civil hospital, where Amit Shah was also present. Kodnani is seeking Shah’s testimony to prove her innocence.

She claims that Shah is crucial in proving her alibi because when the riots took place, 10 kms from Ahmedabad, she was with Mr Shah, first at the Gujarat assembly and then at the hospital she ran.

Both Mr Shah and she were state legislators at the time.

Eleven people were killed in the Naroda Gam and Patiya massacre on February 28, a day after 59 persons were killed in the Godhra train carnage. Kodnani is sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya massacre case. She is presently out on bail on health grounds. Kodnani was granted bail in 2014. The Supreme Court said last week that her trial must be completed within four months.

Shah is the last listed defense witness in her trial; all others have been cross-examined.

Maya Kodnani had been asked to produce Shah on last hearing date, but she requested 10 more days. She had told the court that she has been unable to determine the address at which to serve him summons. The court had said Maya Kodnani should serve the summons on the BJP chief by Monday and see that he appeared the next day.

Security has been beefed up at Sessions court meanwhile in wake of Shah’s possible appearance.

Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, SIT lawyer Malhotra, Maya Kodnani’s lawyer Amit Patel, Govt lawyers are present in the court. Shah is likely to stay in court room for around 45 minutes.

It should be mentioned here that BJP had organized sammelan of Other Backward Class(OBC) at Fagvel in Central Gujarat today. But the time of court appearance was clashing with sammelan. The sammelan was therefore declared postponed by the party.

DeshGujarat