Sohrab case key-accused’s U-turn to hit BJP’s Shah

The decision of Amin,a former deputy superintendent of police,came a day after an elusive Shah,who was the minister of state for home,was arrested and sent to jail. All the 15 accused faced charges of criminal conspiracy,murder,kidnapping and extortion.

Gujarat government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas declined to discuss the fallout of Amin’s decision,saying the judicial process will take its own course.

Amin,who is in jail,was assistant commissioner of police (ACP) city crime branch before being arrested in 2007 based on the statement of a witness involved in the operation of abducting alleged gangster Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar bi.

Another lawyer Rajesh Modi,who is representing Amin,said there was threat to his client’s life from the other accused in the case.

“There is a threat to Amin’s life from the other accused as all are lodged together in the Sabarmati Central jail here. So we have decided to move an application for jail transfer for Amin,” Modi said.

Sohrabuddin was killed in an alleged encounter on November 26,2005. Three days later his wife was also killed.

Two retired IPS officers,who had at one point of time headed probe into the fake encounter case while they were chiefs of state CID,have been meanwhile summoned by the CBI.

G C Raigar and O P Mathur,who have already been questioned earlier by the CBI in connection with the case,have been called for further questioning,sources in the CBI said .

Raigar has reached the CBI office in block 11 of old secretariat in Gandhinagar,where his questioning with regard to the case has begun,they said.

Mathur is presently head of Raksha Shakti University recently set up by the state government.

The two retired IPS officers were heading the state CID which had earlier investigated the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case before the probe was transfered to the CBI by the Supreme Court in January this year.

The probe agency also filed an application before a CBI court for interrogating Shah in jail.

Shah was sent to judicial custody till August 7 by special CBI magistrate A Y Dave.

According to the application filed in the CBI court,the central agency wants to interrogate Shah inside the jail premises itself.

The chargesheet has named Shah as a key-accused along with IPS officers-D G Vanzara,Rajkumar Pandian,M N Dinesh and Abhay Chudasama.

According to the chargesheet,it was Shah who had entrusted the task of eliminating Sheikh,an alleged gangster,to Vanzara,Pandian and Chudasama.

U-turn likely by key accused in Sohrabuddin case

Earlier in the day the way things would unravel were indicated by AMin’s lawyer.

In a shot in the arm for CBI,former Deputy Superintendent of Police N K Amin,an accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case,is likely to file an application for becoming an approver,his lawyer said here today.

“We are going to file an application in the CBI court on behalf of Amin to turn him into an approver in the (Sohrabuddin) case,” Amin’s lawyer Jadgish Ramani said after coming out of the CBI office in Gandhinagar.

The application is likely to be filed later in the day at the CBI court here,he said.

Amin,who is in jail,was assistant commissioner of police (ACP) city crime branch before being arrested in 2007 based on the statement of a witness involved in the operation of abducting Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar bi.

Another lawyer Rajesh Modi,who is representing Amin,said there was threat to his client’s life from the other accused in the case.

“There is a threat to Amin’s life from the other accused as all are lodged together in the Sabarmati Central jail here. So we have decided to move an application for jail transfer for Amin,” Modi said.

The application is likely to be filed in the CBI court here today.