CBI read out the statements of witnesses who had disclosed the involvement of Amit Shah and other police officers in the killing of Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauserbi, and their alleged extortion racket.
Amit Shah was the 'head' of an extortion syndicate and some serving police officers of the state were part of it, said KTS Tulsi on Tuesday. Tulsi, who is counsel for the CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, said this while opposing former minister Amit Shah's bail plea in the Gujarat high court.
"If such unholy nexuses exist, who can save the country?," Tulsi said. Further argument in the case will continue on Wednesday.
"Shah is dangerous even inside the jail as being a (former) minister of state for home, he thinks he has become so powerful that he can neutralise the Supreme Court. If bail is granted to Shah there will be no hope of justice for the victims. Shah does not deserve bail," said Tulsi.
Shah had moved the high court for bail after his bail application was rejected by the CBI judge GK Upadhyay earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Tulsi read out the statements of witnesses who had disclosed the involvement of Amit Shah and other police officers in the killing of Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauserbi, and their alleged extortion racket.
Tulsi emphasised that the offence in question was a serious one as the minister of state for home, who oversees the police department, was himself involved in the racket in connivance with some police officers.
The lawyer drew justice RH Shukla's attention to the statement of Rubabuddin Sheikh, brother of Sohrabuddin. Tulsi said Azam Khan, a key witness in the case and aide of Sohrabuddin, had approached Sohabuddin's other brother, Nayamuddin, with an offer of Rs50 lakh if he withdrew his petition from the Supreme Court. The money offered was to be given by Abhay Chudasama, Tulsi said, quoting from Rubabuddin's statement.
And when Rubabuddin rejected the offer, Chudasama had phoned him and threatened him with the same fate as had befallen Sohrabuddin and Kausarbi.
According to Rubabuddin's statement, Chudasama had also told him that Amitbhai is very angry and "he can do anything in Madhya Pradesh too", Tulsi said.
The name of former home minister of Rajasthan, Gulabchand Katariya, also came up while Tulsi was reading out from Azam Khan's statement. Tulsi said that, according to the statement, Khan had heard the conversation of two police officers of Hathipole police station in Udaipur. The police officers were saying that Katariya had kept all the money which the owners of RK Marble had given him, and police officers had got nothing, Tulsi said.
The CBI's lawyer also mentioned the statements of other witnesses in which they had said that they were forced to give statements against the owners of Popular Builders or were forced to withdraw their petition against the police.
Zahid Kadri, another witness in the case, had said in his statement that IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan had asked him to withdraw his petition against the police from the high court or else he would be killed. He was also forced to make statements against Sohrabuddin, Noor Mohammad Ghoghari and others, Tulsi told the court. He added that Pandiyan had allegedly threatened Kadri and told him that "he would be eliminated on Amit Shah's instructions".
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