Ahmedabad/IBNS: Former Gujarat minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal's Babu Bajrangi are among over 60 accused who have been acquitted in the Naroda Gam case during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A special court in Ahmedabad gave its judgment on Thursday in connection with the communal riots case in which 11 Muslims were killed when their homes were set on fire in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam.

Home Minister Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness in court for Kodnani in 2017.

She was a minister in the Gujarat government headed by the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 when the riots broke out following the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express in which Hindu pilgrims were travelling in Gujarat's Godhra.

Kodnani was also convicted in the Naroda Patiya riots case in which 97 people were massacred.

She was sentenced to 28 years of jail and was later discharged by the Gujarat High Court.

The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT appointed by the Supreme Court and heard by special courts.

Over 80 people were named as accused in the Naroda Gam case; 18 died during the trial.