BJP President Amit Shah on Monday told a Special Court here that he had met former BJP minister Mayaben Kodnani in the state Assembly in Gandhinagar and later at the Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad on the day of the 2002 Naroda Gam riots. Appearing as defence witness for former BJP MLA Kodnani, Shah also said police had escorted him and her to a safe place as agitated crowds had surrounded them at the hospital. The Special Court hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case had summoned Shah as defence witness on an application moved by Kodnani, an accused in the case. Appearing before Principal Sessions Judge PD Desai, Shah said, on February 28, 2002, he had seen Kodnani in the state Assembly that had assembled in the morning to pay tributes to those killed in the Godhra train burning incident on February 27. The Assembly had also passed a resolution, condemning in the strongest possible terms, the incident of burning of S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express near Godhra station in which 59 karsevaks had died, Shah said. "The session was adjourned within 15 to 20 minutes. The session had started at 8.30 am but can't say the exact time when it was adjourned," he told the court. After the Session, Shah recalled, he went to Sola Civil Hospital after receiving calls that bodies of the karsevaks had been brought to the hospital. "As Sola Civil Hospital is in my constituency, I reached there between 9.30 am to 9.45 am... Maya Kodnani met us at Sola Civil Hospital," he told the court. "Police were escorting Mayaben out of the hospital when I first saw her at the hospital between 11.15 to 11.30 am. They also escorted me out of the hospital along with Mayaben to some distance away in their vehicle, and dropped me at Gota Cross Road but she was still in the (police) jeep," Shah added. "After that I went to my home and I don't know where she went," the BJP president said. Shah clarified that he wasn't giving the statement because Mayaben was from his party or both were MLAs together or even ministerial colleagues earlier. Last month, the Supreme Court had asked the Special court to conclude the trial within four months. A bench headed by then Chief Justice J S Khehar asked the lower court to complete recording of evidence of defence witnesses in two months. Naroda Gam is one of the nine major 2002 communal riot cases which were investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. Kodnani already stands convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail for her role in the Naroda Patiya riot in which 96 people were killed.

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