Former Gujarat Minister Maya Kodnani and ex-VHP leader Jaideep Patel were remanded in police custody till April 1 by a local court in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots case.

Kodnani and Patel's anticipatory bail was cancelled by Gujarat High Court on Friday, after which they had surrendered before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), appointed by the Supreme Court to probe some of the riot cases afresh.

Kodnani, who was Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare and Higher Education in the Narendra Modi Government, had resigned from her post shortly after the High Court order.

Metropolitan Magistrate N A Engineer sent the duo to four-day custody in the Naroda Gam riot case. The SIT had sought 14-day custody, a plea not accepted by the local court.

Kodnani and Patel are accused of leading rioting mobs in Naroda Patia and Naroda Gam areas on the city's outskirts, where 106 people were killed on February 28, 2002, a day after the burning of Sabarmati Express near Godhra.

The SIT, in its application seeking custody, charged that Kodnani, the BJP MLA from Naroda, and Patel had led the mobs and instigated them with their speeches which triggered the attacks on the minority community in the area.

The SIT application argued that the two leaders were present at the spot when the mob attacked the people and hence, their remand is necessary to identify the co-accused.

"There is discrepancy in the statements given by Kodnani and Patel before the investigating agencies," the SIT application said, adding they needed to unravel the truth.

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