SC relief to Shah could be short-lived

Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been in exile since October 2010

The relief granted to former Gujarat minister Amit Shah by the Supreme Court on Thursday, is likely to be short-lived, as he faces arrest in another fake encounter case of Tulsiram Prajapati.

The Apex Court today rejected CBI's plea to cancel the bail granted to Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and permitted him to enter and travel in Gujarat in view of the upcoming assembly elections. The SC also agreed to transfer the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai, on CBI's plea.

Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and former minister of state for home, has been in exile since October 2010 after SC restrained him to enter Gujarat on plea of CBI.

 

This relief to Shah could be momentary as he is among the 20 people named by the CBI in its charge sheet in the Prajapati fake encounter case for allegedly entering into criminal conspiracy for murder and destruction of evidence.

Prajapati, an eye witness in the encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, was killed in fake encounter allegedly by Gujarat police at Chhapri, in Banaskantha district on December 28, 2006.

Former state police chief P C Pande, IPS officers O P Mathur, D G Vanzara and Geetha Johri and Dy SP R K Patel were also named in the charge sheet submitted by CBI early this month in the court of judicial magistrate at Danta in Banaskantha.

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday held that the special CBI court in Ahmedabad holds jurisdiction over the recent CBI chargesheet in Prajapati encounter case. It directed the probing agency to submitted the chargesheet in the special CBI court in Ahmedabad.

According lawyers associated with the case once the chargesheet was filed in the Special CBI court, a non-bailable warrant could be issued against Shah and other police officers named in the chargesheet, but have not been arrested.

Shah was arrested by CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheik fake encounter case on July 25, 2010 and had spent over three months in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad. He had to quit the Modi government in July last year after having been slapped with charges of kidnapping and murder in connection with the case. CBI has alleged that he was the "kingpin" of the conspiracy in the case.