Sohrabuddin encounter case: UPA govt misused CBI to frame Amit Shah, says Smriti Irani

New Delhi, Jan 1: Launching a scathing attack on the Congress over the Sohrabuddin Shaikh case, Union minister Smriti accused the UPA government of "misusing the CBI to frame Amit Shah".

"The CBI created evidence for a manufactured probe. But the courts have cleared BJP chief Amit Shah of all charges levelled against him. It was a conspiracy by Congress," Union minister said at a media briefing.

Claiming that the Sohrabuddin case was politically motivated, Irani said, "The entire investigation was carried out according to a set script to achieve certain goals. Truth has finally won in a case that was nothing but a conspiracy by Congress".

Quoting the recent CBI court judgement, which was delivered a week ago by the special CBI court, Irani said: "The judgment clearly said that the CBI was more concerned about establishing a particular pre-conceived and pre-meditated theory, rather than finding out the truth to to implicate political leaders."

All 22 accused in the alleged fake encounter killings of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsi Prajapati were acquitted last month by a special CBI court because of insufficient evidence, even as it expressed sorrow over the loss of "three lives."

The 350-page judgment said: "Having examined the entire investigation and conducted the trial, I have no hesitation in recording that during the investigation of these offences, the CBI was doing something other than reaching the truth of these offences.

All the accused, who were mostly police officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan, were out on bail during the year-long trial.