Shah framed in Sohrabuddin encounter case: Bihar BJP leader

BJP president Amit Shah was framed in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case by the CBI at the instance of the Congress which was then in power at the Centre, Bihar minister Mangal Pandey alleged on Wednesday.

Pandey, a former state BJP president, claimed that the case was aimed at defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, and Shah was the minister of state for home in that state.

He was reacting to the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court's recent decision acquitting Shah and others in the case.

The special CBI court in Mumbai had on December 21 acquitted all 22 accused in the killing of Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsi Prajapati in alleged fake encounters by Gujarat Police between 2005 and 2006 citing insufficient evidence.

Shah was arrested briefly in 2010 in the case before being discharged in December 2014.

Pandey also accused UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi of using the investigating agency for political ends.

Claiming that Sohrabuddin was a criminal, the BJP leader alleged that the Congress has been in the habit of eulogising those involved in terror activities.