Ahmedabad: In 2010, Amit Shah, the then Gujarat Minister of State for Home, was arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. P Chidambaram was the then union home minister and the BJP had accused the Congress-led UPA government of misusing the CBI.
With the CBI and the Enforcement Department hot on the trail of Chidambaram – both of which report to Union home minister Amit Shah -- it is now the turn of the Congress to allege vendetta politics.
Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal with a number of cases to his name was killed by the Gujarat police in 2005 in what was later termed as a ‘fake encounter’. His wife
Kauserbi, who was alongside her husband when they were taken off a bus in Andhra Pradesh, also met a tragic end, allegedly at the hands of Gujarat police.
Fingers were then pointed at Shah for giving a nod to the Gujarat police. In January 2010, under directions of Supreme Court, the case was handed over to the CBI. In July 2010, Shah was arrested by the CBI in connection with the case and charged with murder besides kidnapping.
His plea for bail in the Gujarat High Court was opposed by the CBI on the premise that being a powerful politi-cal entity, he could tamper with evidence.
However Shah was granted bail by the Gujarat High Court on October 29, 2010. However, subsequently, under court orders, Shah was barred from entering Gujarat and remained out of his home state for over two years.
Shah was cleared of all charges in December 2014 when the Narendra Modi government assumed charge at the Centre. Shah had then accused Chidambaram and the Congress government of misusing the CBI to target political opponents. Today, the Congress is making the same claim.
By RK MISRA
