File pic: Ex-Modi minister Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, convicted in 2002 riots
In a snub to the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation team (SIT) has asked for death sentence for former state minister Maya Kodnani, who was convicted in one of the worst massacres of the 2002 riots.
The SIT today moved the top court for permission to file a plea for enhancing the former minister's life sentence to death.
This comes weeks after the state government asked the SIT not to press for death sentence for Kodnani, arguing that there was "no direct evidence" against her.
Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in prison last year for the murder of 97 Muslims at Naroda Patiya village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad during the riots that raged through Gujarat in February 2002. Importantly, the trial court while convicting Kodnani, had termed her a prime conspirator.
In April this year, the Gujarat government set up a three-member team of public prosecutors to prepare groundwork for filing an appeal seeking death penalty for Kodnani, Bajrangi and four others.
But the very next month, the Modi government did a U-turn on Kodnani, asking the SIT to hold off its plea for death sentence until the Advocate General gave his opinion. The government was accused of changing its stand under pressure from the Sangh Parivar.
Kodnani, a doctor by profession, is the first MLA and the highest-ranking politician to be convicted in a Gujarat riots case.
The three-time BJP MP from Naroda was an RSS star in Gujarat and despite the serious criminal charges against her in the riots case, she was made the state's Minister for Women and Child Development in 2007 by Mr Modi.