Sohrabuddin case witnesses would be threatened if Amit Shah gets bail: CBI

The CBI today opposed the bail plea of Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case saying that security of witnesses in the case would be threatened if the former Gujarat minister is released.

"Shah was the mastermind of the conspiracy leading to the encounter of Sohrabuddin and he has been striking terror in the minds of witnesses, which has been revealed in their statements to CBI," senior counsel of the Central agency KTS Tulsi submitted in the court of judge GK Upadhyay.

There have also been attempts on the lives of some witnesses, besides threats to them, Tulsi said.

"Influence that Shah can create is much more because he was head of the police as the minister of state for home. Hence, police would be obliged to dance to his tunes," he said.

Submitting that witnesses were still being threatened and efforts made to tamper the evidence, Tulsi said, "Granting bail to Shah would endanger justice."

Tulsi also read out statements of some of the key witnesses before the CBI, where they have narrated threats issued to them by some of the arrested police officials, allegedly at the behest of Shah.

Hearing in case would now continue on September 29. The CBI today also submitted an affidavit opposing Shah's bail plea in the court.

In the affidavit before the court, CBI has mentioned about the statement of retired IPS officer GC Raigar who had headed the CID crime when it was investigating the fake encounter case, before CBI took over on the order of the Supreme Court.

According to Raigar, Shah used to interfere with the Sohrabuddin encounter probe while it was being investigated by the state CID, when he was minister of state, the affidavit said.

Raigar has also stated that Shah had asked investigators to go slow on the probe, during a meeting with Geetha Johri and VL Solanki in Gandhinagar circuit house, it added.

The affidavit claimed that the letter, which Shah's counsel Ram Jethmalani had produced in the court saying that it was a proof that Shah's arrest was to target Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, was fabricated.

The letter was a fabrication and clever concoction of facts with fragments of imagination, the affidavit said. It further said that the CBI had not acted with political motives to arrest Shah.

The letter was never sent by the CBI, Tulsi said.

Amit Shah's son Jay Shah also filed an affidavit today in the court saying that his father has been falsely implicated in the fake encounter case.