Gujarat high court gives relief to Ajay Patel, Yashpal Chudasama

In a setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, Justice RH Shukla of Gujarat high court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to Ajay Patel and Yashpal Chudasama against whom a CBI court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants. 

It is the first time that any accused in the case has got anticipatory bail. Patel and Chudasama, both close aides of former minister Amit Shah, are facing charges of threatening witnesses and tampering with evidence.

The high court granted the anticipatory bail to Patel and Chudasama by holding that prima facie there is no evidence to link the two accused’s participation in the main conspiracy of eliminating Sohrbuddin and his wife Kausarbi. The high court, however, imposed the condition that the two should not leave the country without the permission of the court and that they have to co-operate with the CBI for the investigation. 

The court also accepted the arguments from the counsels of both the accused that the CBI has no evidence except the statements of Raman Patel and Dasrath Patel and the transcript of the video tapes. While delivering the order, Justice Shukla observed: “Even if the accusation made by the prosecuting agency, CBI, is accepted at the face value and the statements of the two witnesses, along with the transcript, are read as they are, at best it would attribute the applicants with the role and offence under Section 201 of IPC and there is no evidence to connect or suggest the involvement of the applicant accused for conspiracy.”