Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah relieved, SC says NO to 2nd FIR

Updated: Monday, April 8, 2013, 11:47 [IST]

New Delhi, April 8: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah must be relieved as the Supreme Court on Monday, April 8 ruled out that no fresh FIRs will be filed against him in connection with two infamous fake encounter cases in Gujarat.

Earlier it was reported that Shah might be arrested once again if the apex court rules that he will be tried separately in connection with murder cases of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati who allegedly were killed in fake encounters.

The investigative agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accused Shah of hatching conspiracy of killing the duo and had filed separate charge-sheets. Challenging CBI's move, Shah had moved the court asserting that the CBI has been trying to arrest him once again by a "malafide design" to seek his police custody again by filing a separate charge-sheet in the Prajapati case.

While the CBI claimed that both Sohrabuddin and Prajapati case were different, Shah said both killings were "inter-connected" and an "integral part of the conspiracy hatched as a part of the same transaction."

Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad allegedly kidnapped Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi from Hyderabad and killed them in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in Nov 2005. Sohrabuddin allegedly had connection with terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and allegedly had hatched conspiracy to kill Narendra Modi.

Tulsiram Prajapati reportedly was a key witness to the encounter and was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Banaskantha district in Dec 2006.

Shah, who was the then Gujarat Home Minister, stepped down after his name surfaced in the allegedly staged encounter killings.

The CBI arrested Shah on July 25, 2010 in connection with Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. He is currently out on bail in the case.

However, despite the serious allegations against him, Shah won the state assembly elections by a huge margin from the Naranpura constituency in Dec 2012. Shah recently has been inducted in BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision making body of the party.

OneIndia News