Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case: CBI Special court drops charges against BJP President and former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah

In a major relief to Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, a special CBI court in Mumbai on Tuesday accepted his plea for discharge in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case thereby dropping all charges alleged by the CBI against him. 

“I am of the opinion that the inference drawn by CBI is not accepted in totality and he (Shah) cannot be charged as an accused," special CBI judge MB Gosavi said in a brief order pronounced in the court.

Amit Shah. (Picture Courtesy: The Hindu)

The case was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai earlier this year.

In September 2013, the CBI had charge-sheeted Shah, the former home minister of Gujarat, and 18 others, including several police officers. Shah was charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and offences under the Arms Act.

Sohrabuddin was allegedly abducted by Gujarat's anti-terrorism squad and killed in an encounter with the police on November 26, 2005, in Ahmedabad. His wife Kausar Bi was allegedly murdered three days later, and her body disposed of.

Following this, Sohrabuddin's brother, Rubabuddin, had filed a complaint that his brother was killed in a fake encounter.

The Gujarat police had claimed Sohrabuddin had links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and planned to assassinate important political leaders.

Tulsiram Prajapati was killed by the police at Chapri village in Banaskantha district of Gujarat in December 28, 2006. 

The CBI alleged that Shah, who was Gujarat's home minister at the time, was involved in both killings as the police reported to him.

Shah stepped down as home minister in 2010 after he was arrested in the case. He got bail three months later.

The defence had stated that Indian National Congress (INC) had used the CBI as a tool to implicate Shah in the case.

Senior counsel Mihir Desai, who had appeared for complainant Rubabuddin, had argued in court that Shah was in frequent touch with police officers S Rajkumar Pandyan and DG Vanzara, who are in jail in connection with the case, and that he also tried to influence the investigation into the killings.

Looking at the statements recorded in the charge sheet the minimum that can be deciphered is that Shah was either trying to destroy evidence or fabricate it, and hence the discharge plea should be rejected, said Desai. 

But Shah's lawyer had contested that call records of Shah and some police officials between November 2005 and December 2006 have been brought on record, but calls made by Shah before and after the period were not.

Even the content of the talk was not produced, Shah's lawyer had contested. 

Copy of the order pronounced by the CBI Special Court is awaited. 

Calcutta High Court gives the go-ahead for conduct of BJP Rally in Kolkata; Amit Shah hails HC order as 'a victory of the masses'

President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah has today said that the permission given by Calcutta High Court for the conduct of his rally in Kolkata is "a victory of the masses". 

The rally assumes significance in view of the significant rise in the support base of the BJP in West Bengal recently. The BJP since the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year has been trying to make headway in the State. Of the 42 seats, it managed to win two – SS Ahluwalia (Darjeeling) and Babul Supriyo (Asansol). Supriyo has since been elevated as Minister of State for Urban Development in the recent expansion of the Union Council of Ministers. Significantly, BJP after a long gap has also been able to win an Assembly seat (in West Bengal) from Basirhat Dakshin constituency. Samik Bhattacharya is the only MLA of the party in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

(File Picture: Amit Shah, BJP President)

Earlier, the Trinamool Congress-run city civic body, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and other emergency services like the Fire Department, apart from the police, had initially declined permission for the Uthan rally planned to be held by the party outside Victoria House in central Kolkata citing certain 'deficiencies'. Reasons of traffic inconvenience and width of the staircase leading to the dais were stated. The authorities also reasoned that Shah couldn’t hold a public rally outside Victoria House on Sunday because the sketch of the podium that the BJP had submitted for permission does not exactly show the width of the staircase and the site plan was not according to scale. The certificate of the decorator hired was also not submitted. While rejecting BJP's plea, the fire department had said there must be "minimum 20 feet clear open space" between the boundary wall and the proposed stage. 

This had prompted the party (BJP) to move the Calcutta High Court challenging the non-issuance of the NOC by the authorities on the ground of discrimination by the administration. The Party had contended that the technical objections raised may be on valid grounds, but then these objections could be rectified after a dialogue with the civic authorities. In Court, Counsel for the BJP, Mr. S K Kapoor said the government's argument followed neither fact nor law. The court said BJP's applications to KMC and fire department were not in order. Kapoor assured that his client will comply with rules to ensure the rally is held on November 30.

The Calcutta High Court passed an order on Friday appointing two special officers – director general of state fire services Sanjoy Mukherjee and KMC joint commissioner (development) S Santra, to ensure the compliance of fire services and municipal rules in the public meeting, while observing that the government should not be rigid in the compliance of these rules while granting permission. The court asked officers to take a reasonable call on the "20-feet space rule".


On the same day, Counsel for the fire services Department, Pranab Dutta sought a stay on the Single Judge’s order following an oral appeal to Chief Justice Dr. Manjula Chellur. She however refused to pass an order based on verbal petition and asked Dutta to file a formal application. 

Following the High Court directive, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the state fire services department were left with no choice but to give the green signal for the conduct of Amit Shah's rally.

State BJP vice president Tathagata Roy said the ruling Trinamool Congress’s “conspiracy” to scuttle the rally stood exposed. Observers point out that he Victoria House venue has a great symbolic importance in the BJP-TMC face off. This has been favoured venue of TMC leader and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee over the years, from where she would make a show of her strength in the month of July, year after year.

The stage is now literally set for a grand face-off with the BJP all set to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections in 2016. BJP leader and National Secretary of the party, Siddharth Nath Singh hinted as much when he said “Amit Shah-ji will sound the bugle for the 2016 Assembly polls in order to make West Bengal TMC free after 2016 polls."