Guj riots: Ode victims, accused's kin asked not to come to court

The premises of the Anand district sessions court on Monday was somber and rather controlled. The place was swarming with policemen deployed to prevent any untoward occurrence following the verdict in the Ode massacre case.

Strangely, there were no relatives of the accused or the victims. It was later learnt that lawyers were categorically asked to discourage their clients from bringing family members to court.

"The environment tends to get very charged with emotion on both sides and the last thing the Modi government wants is an untoward incident, especially so close to the polls," said a policeman.