Modi aide Amit Shah eludes arrest, CBI on trail

The CBI has launched a search for Amit Shah, who today resigned as the Gujarat minister of state for home after being charged with murder and extortion in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

Shah and two other accused in the 2005 case - Yashpal Chudasama and Ajay Patel - have gone underground, sources in the CBI said.

"All three are key accused in the fake encounter case and we are searching for them," CBI officials said today.

Teams from the central agency, which filed a chargesheet in the case yesterday, are searching for the accused at various locations, they added.

The 46-year-old BJP leader, a close aide of chief minister Narendra Modi was exploring legal options after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the special CBI court yesterday, sources close to development said.

The chargesheet has named Shah as a key accused along with IPS officers DG Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian, MN Dinesh and Abhay Chudasama. In all, 15 accused have been named.

According to the chargesheet, it was Shah who had entrusted the task of eliminating Sheikh, an alleged gangster, to Vanzara, Pandia and Chudasama. Sheikh was killed in an encounter near here on November 26, 2005.

The CBI is conducting a fresh probe into the encounter at the behest of the supreme court.