Former police officer NK Amin, an accused in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, today turned approver and moved a court, in a shot in the arm for the Central Bureau of Investigation that could spell more trouble for Gujarat's jailed former minister and key accused Amit Shah.
Shah, a former minister of state for home arrested yesterday after remaining elusive for four days, also moved the court for bail claiming innocence.
But Shah, who was yesterday sent to judicial custody till August 7, will remain behind bars since the bail hearing will come up only on August 2. Eminent criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani is appearing for Shah.
Amin, a former ex-deputy superintendent of police, also sought a pardon while offering to become approver.
Notice was issued to the CBI on Amin's application and additional chief judicial magistrate AI Raval posted hearing the matter for hearing tomorrow.
Amin also pleaded that he be shifted out of Sabarmati Jail citing a threat to his life.
In another development, Raval granted the CBI permission to interrogate Shah in Sabarmati Jail between July 28 and 30 in connection with the case, but only after providing the BJP leader a copy of its charge sheet.
The jail authorities were also directed that the
interrogation should be both audiotaped and videotaped.
"We have filed the bail application [of Amit Shah] in the special court," Shah's lawyer Nirupam Nanavati said.
"In the application we have said that he is innocent," he said.
The bail application was filed in the court of
special CBI judge GK Upadhyaya for which final hearing will be held on August 2, said Nanavati.
Nanavati said that till date his client had not received a copy of the charge sheet and they had asked the court to provide it.
Shah, Amin, and 13 others face charges of criminal conspiracy, murder, abduction and extortion in connection with the killing of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh in a fake encounter near Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005, and the killing of his wife Kausar Bi three days later.
Gujarat government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas declined to discuss the fallout of Amin's decision, saying the judicial process will take its own course.
Amin, who is in jail, was assistant commissioner of police in the city's crime branch before being arrested in 2007 on the statement of a witness involved in the operation of abducting Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi.
Lawyer Rajesh Modi, who is representing Amin, said there was a threat to his client's life from the other accused in the case.
"There is a threat to Amin's life from the other
accused as all are lodged together in Sabarmati Central Jail here," Modi said. "So we have decided to move an application for jail transfer for Amin."
Meanwhile, two retired Indian Police Service officers, who each headed the inquiry into the fake encounter case when they headed the criminal investigation department of the state police, have been summoned by the CBI.
GC Raigar and OP Mathur, who have already been questioned earlier by the CBI in connection with the case, have been called for further questioning, a source in the CBI said. Raigar has deposed before the CBI.
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