WITNESS IDENTIFIES 2002 RIOT ACCUSED IN COURT

WITNESS IDENTIFIES 2002 RIOT ACCUSED IN COURT

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August 11, 2022

Mohammed Salim Sheikh a key witness in the Naroda Paitya riot case of 2002 identified Maya Kodnani, a former minister in the Narendra Modi government and an accused of the riots, in a special court. Salim Sheikh, deposing before designated Judge Jyotsna Yagnik, said Kodnani had arrived in Naroda area in a white car on February 28, 2002. She instigated the mob and abetted them to target people from the minority community. Recalling the incident in which 95 people were killed, Salim Sheikh said on that fateful day he had gone to Milan Hotel in the locality when he saw a mob of over 1,500 lunatic youths coming from Kubernagar area. He said the rioting mob was led by Kishan Korani, Manoj Videowala, Murli Sandhi and others. Sheikh said two of them, Videowala and Korani, fired from their revolvers, but he does not know if anybody was killed in the firing. Salim Sheikh said after the mob turned violent, he somehow managed to escape from the area. He also claimed before the court that there was a larger conspiracy behind the Godhra’s Sabarmati train incident.