Ahmedabad: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Naroda Gam massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots told the special court here that the main accused, former minister Mayaben Kodnani, was present at the spot for around 10 minutes and left after "instigating the mob".

During Friday's hearing, special public prosecutor Gaurang Vyas told special judge M.K. Dave that eyewitness accounts establish Kodnani's presence at Naroda Gam around 9am on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning.

Questioning the defence witnesses who had claimed that Kodnani was either in the Gujarat Assembly in Gandhinagar or at her hospital in Ahmedabad or at Sola Civil Hospital that day, Vyas said such witnesses were "created only to save Kodnani".

In her defence, Kodnani had told the court that she was in the Gujarat Assembly in Gandhinagar on the morning of February 28 and then went to the Sola hospital, where bodies of karsevaks killed in the train fire were brought from Godhra.

Vyas said Kodnani reached Naroda Gam around 9am after leaving Gandhinagar around 8.40am. The special public prosecutor said mobile tower location records suggest that she reached Sola around 10am.

Citing the testimonies of eyewitnesses, Vyas said people from the area saw Kodnani at Naroda Gam that morning. The case against Kodnani is that she instigated the mob by giving a speech outside the Naroda Gam area, he added.

"Eyewitnesses have said that she was there for around 10 minutes. She did not enter the area. She came, made a speech to instigate the mob and left. This case is mainly about inciting the mob," Vyas said.

Eleven people had died in the Naroda Gam massacre, which is one of the nine Gujarat riot cases being investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team. Besides rioting and murder, Kodnani has been charged with criminal conspiracy.

Kodnani was earlier sentenced to 28 years in jail for her role in the Naroda Patiya massacre, in which 96 people were killed, but Gujarat High Court overturned the verdict and acquitted her in April.

The public prosecutor questioned the testimony of a pregnant woman who claimed to have been treated at Kodnani's hospital on February 28 and that of another defence witness, Dr Dhaval Shah, who is said to be Kodnani's partner in running the hospital.

The patient claimed she was checked by Kodnani around 1pm, but has no papers or bill to show for the hospital visit. Shah said he had dropped the patient at her relative's house in his vehicle, but does not know the address, Vyas pointed out.

"Such witnesses were created just to save Kodnani," Vyas told the court, adding that all the defence witnesses who said they saw Kodnani at Sola "were either BJP leaders or relatives of the Godhra carnage victims".

The case has been posted for hearing on Monday. PTI