Congress blames BJP of influencing investigations against Shah

New Delhi, July 23 (ANI): Congress party on Friday blamed Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to influence investigations in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh murder case and shield its Gujarat minister Amit Shah.

It also criticised BJP for cancelling a lunch today with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ahead of the beginning of Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The party said that it was unprecedented on the part of the BJP to hold a press conference on an ongoing investigation.

'It is a blatant and attempt to pressurise investigations. It is a crude attempt to create an arc of immunity for (Amit) Shah... It is a clear contempt of court,' said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi here today in a press conference.

Rubbishing BJP's charge on CBI's misuse by the Govt., Singhvi said that the party's comments on investigation were 'indefensible, unheard of'.

'By this action, the BJP is going on a new line of unconstitutional, improper conduct,' he said.

In a veiled reference to Narendra Modi, Singhvi said it was Gujarat's junior home minister Shah who was running scared and avoiding interrogation.

"Now, perhaps, the home minister's mentor is equally scared and appears to have pressurised senior BJP leaders to obstruct and prevent ongoing investigation," he said.

"The BJP leadership includes senior lawyers. Have they forgotten that the Supreme Court, in a detailed judgement after months of arguments, had transferred the case to CBI from the Gujarat Police?," Singhvi stated.

He said the Gujarat government had argued for many months that they had completed the investigations in the case and had filed chargesheet.

Singhvi said, as the investigation was nearing completion and the agency appeared to have zeroed in on Shah for his alleged complicity. "It has sent shivers down the collective spine of the BJP."

In November 2005, Sohrabuddin was shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. His wife, Kauser Bi, was also killed. At the time, Gujarat's Anti Terror Squad (ATS) said that Sohrabuddin was a terrorist who planned to assassinate Modi.

In 2007, the Gujarat state government admitted in court that Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi had been wrongly killed. Some of the state's senior-most policemen are in jail, charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, and kidnapping.

Phone records allegedly show that those same policemen were in close and constant touch with Shah once they picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauserbi, from a bus headed from Hyderabad to Sangli. (ANI)