Friday, May 27 2005 10:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Another prime witness in the Bilkis Bano gang rape-cum-murder trial today identified 12 accused charged of killing persons and raping Bilkis and her family members.

Salim, a resident of village Ransdhipur to which Bilkis belongs, yesterday (May 26, 2005) said he had seen the 12 accused with swords and stick in his village on March 3, 2002. He said they also had two jeeps with them.

Salim said he had fled the village along with his family members on February 28, a day after Sabarmati express was set afire by a mob at Godhra station and returned to village on March 3 and saw the accused together.

Salim, however, during his cross-examination said, he had never approached police as he was not interested in going to the police.

Earlier, the defence cross-examined Shugrabi, Bilkis' aunt, who had accompanied Bilkis from the Godhra relief camp to the hospital after she was allegedly gang raped.

The defence cross-examined her over her failure to report the matter to police for a period of two years. She first recorded her evidence only on January 20, 2004 before the CBI.

Of the 20 accused, eight are charged with shielding the guilty. Of these eight, two are a doctor-couple who performed the post-mortem of the victims. The accused are charged for attacking a group of 17 members of minority community, including Bilkis Bano, in Devgarh Baria village of Dahod district in Gujarat on March 3, 2002. Following the Supreme Court's directive, the trial was shifted to Maharashtra from Gujarat.