New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday filed in the
Supreme Court a status report relating to the fake encounter
killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, an alleged gangster, by the
Gujarat police in which the former state Home Minister Amit
Shah is a key accused.
The status report filed in sealed cover by the CBI
is pursuant to the August 12 order by a bench of Justices
Aftab Alam and R M Lodha which had directed the agency to file
it within three months.
CBI`s senior counsel K T S Tulsi, when contacted by
PTI, said that the report was filed today.
46-year-old Shah, who has been granted bail by the
Gujarat High Court, has been asked to stay out of the state
till November 29 by the apex court which will decide the CBI`s
plea for cancellation of his bail.
Several Gujarat police officers including suspended
DIG D G Banjara and R K Pandiyan (both Gujarat
cadre IPS officers) besides Dinesh M N (Rajasthan cadre IPS
officer) are the main accused in the encounter case and
are presently lodged in jail.
Sheikh was allegedly killed by the Gujarat cops after
abducting him with the help of Andhra Pradesh police claiming
that he was planning to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi in
November 2005.
The cops are alleged to have subsequently killed his
wife Kauser Bi and another accomplice Tulsiram Prajapati as
they were said to have been eyewitnesses to the killing.
The apex court bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and
Aftab Alam had on January 12 ordered a CBI probe after
slamming the shoddy investigations conducted by the state
police.
However, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani had during the
last hearing questioned the Supreme Court order for CBI probe
alleging it was passed by a bench headed by a judge, (Justice
Chatterjee) who was himself under the agency`s scanner in a
criminal case.
He had contended that Shah was dragged into it by the
CBI as "the entire conspiracy was hatched at the highest level
to destroy him and Chief Minister Narendra Modi."
However, his submission evoked strong objections from
the bench and Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who said
such remarks cannot be made against the former judge and he
(SG) has to protect him.
The bench then on August 12 granted three months
extension to the CBI to complete the probe and rejected the
the contention of Jethmalani that the CBI should not be
granted any more extension to probe the case as the
chargesheet had been filed only after the completion of the
investigation.
PTI
