Two witnesses of Sohrab case arrested in alleged land scam

Three builders, including two men who are prime witnesses in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, were arrested in connection with a Rs100-crore land scam on Sunday, Surat crime branch officials said.

Dashrat Patel and Raman Patel, the two witnesses, and their relative, Pankaj Patel, who carry on construction business under the firm-name Popular Builders, were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed in 2010, police said.

The owners of Popular Builders were accused of forging documents to acquire land in Sachin, Unn taluka, they added.

Dashrat and Raman Patel happen to be prime witnesses in the fake encounter case, wherein former Gujarat minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, is a prime accused.

According to the CBI charge sheet, in December 2004, Gujarat police had orchestrated a shoot-out at office of Popular Builders, using close aides of Sohrabuddin, in order to frame up him.

The Patel brothers were allegedly told, at Shah's behest, that they would be given written statements, according to which they would have to depose before the CBI.

The brothers had four meeting with Shah's middlemen. They videographed them and these recordings form a major evidence against Shah and other accused.