Ahmedabad, May 19 (IANS) A local court Tuesday granted bail to former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, who is facing charges of abetting riots in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patia localities of Ahmedabad during the 2002 sectarian violence.
The Ahmedabad City sessions court granted Kodnani bail in both the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patia cases. Senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaideep Patel, who is also facing charges of abetting riots in Naroda Gam, was also granted bail.
'She has now been granted bail for both the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patia cases. She is expected to be released from jail tomorrow (Wednesday) morning,' Kodnani's counsel Mitesh Amin told IANS.
The Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) had filed a chargesheet against Kodnani on May 1. She had been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy, 302 for murder, 307 (attempt to murder) and 143 and 147 for rioting, as per the SIT chargesheet.
Kodnani resigned as minister for women's welfare and higher education and surrendered to the SIT on March 27, this year, after her bail was cancelled by the sessions court.
Her political career with the Bharatiya Janata Party took off in 1995 when she won as a corporator of the Saijipur ward in the municipal polls in Ahmedabad.
A gynaecologist by profession, Kodnani and her husband who also is a doctor still have their clinic in the Naroda locality of Ahmedabad. Few in the city know that Kodnani is an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She joined the RSS on the insistence of her father, an RSS worker.
During the heydays of her political career, Kodnani was also the first woman chairperson appointed to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's Standing Committee.
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