Watching the the social workers and politicians did not incite the mob

The mob outside Sola Civil Hospital on February 28, 2002, was already riled up and seeing social workers and politicians did not incite them in any way. Mayaben Kodnani had stayed at the hospital for nearly an hour that day and that was also the first time I met her in my life, Bharat Patel, a defence witness on behalf of former Naroda MLA Kodnani, submitted during his cross-examination on Wednesday.

Special public prosecutor SC Shah was cross-examining Patel, who stated, “The Godhra train carnage of February 27, 2002, did not spark any movements in Naroda that day. My friends Satish Vyas and Manoj Chhaparia, who were travelling on Sabarmati Express on day of the incident, were supposed to arrive at Maninagar railway station along with other survivors the same evening. While Chapparia arrived, there was no news of Vyas and due to chaos we could not discuss his whereabouts. We left for home around 8pm. Later, upon inquiry, we (Patel and then Odhav councilor Jagdish Patel) found out that he had died and that his body would be brought to Sola Civil.”

“Upon reaching the hospital the next morning to claim Vyas’ body, I saw Amit Shah, but did not …read more