Naroda Patiya riots case convict killed over argument, 2 held

Kalu Thakor, who was sentenced in the Naroda Patiya riot case and was out on parole since the last few weeks, was killed with a sharp weapon by the two accused, who were later arrested, an official of Naroda police station said. 

The incident took place near the city's Krishnanagar crossroads late on Saturday night, Naroda police station inspector Paresh Khambhala said. 

"Thakor had an altercation with the duo over some money transaction. After the murder, we arrested the accused. While one of them is a minor boy, the other accused has been identified as Kamlesh Chunara," he said. 

Thakor had been convicted for being a part of the mob that had killed 97 people, most of them from a minority community, at Naroda Patiya locality of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express was torched at Godhra. 

In April 2018, the Gujarat High Court had upheld the conviction of 16 people, including the then Bajrang Dal leader Babu Patel, and acquitted 18 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani, in the case. 

Most of the convicts in the case were sentenced to up to 21 years of rigorous imprisonment.