Nine persons were convicted and 32 others acquitted on Friday by a special court in the 2002 Ode village riots case that left three persons dead.
Special court judge R.M. Sarin convicted the nine accused on charges of murder (Section 302) and criminal conspiracy (120B). The sentence is likely to be pronounced later.
Three persons of a minority community were killed in Malva Bhagol area of Ode village on March 1, 2002 in riots following the Godhra train burning incident on February 27, 2002.
There were 41 accused in the case against whom the charges were framed on the complaint of one Rehana Yusufbhai Vohra. Those killed in the incident were Ayesha Vohra, Nuriben Vohra and Kaderbhai Vohra. During the trial, the court had examined 67 witnesses and 98 documentary evidence were put up before the court.
This is the second case pertaining to Ode village, in which the court has given its verdict. In the first case, another court had sentenced 18 people to life imprisonment while awarding seven years jail to five others, in connection with massacre of 23 persons in Ode village during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The case was probed by the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team.
