Tulsi Prajapati encounter: Amit Shah was the ‘kingpin’ of conspiracy, alleges CBI

Former Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah has been named in the CBI chargesheet as ‘accused number one’ and described as the ‘kingpin’ of the conspiracy to kill Tulsi Prajapati in a fake encounter, sources said.

The court of the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) in Danta on Tuesday ruled that it had jurisdiction in the Tulsi case and formally accepted the charge sheet filed by the CBI recently.

The court also allowed the lawyers of the accused to inspect the document. Sources said that the charge sheet is 4000 pages long and the CBI has named 343 witnesses in the case. According to sources, the CBI has named retired IPS officer GC Raigar as a witness. Copies of the chargesheet will be given to the accused on Thursday.

The sources further said that during its investigation, the probe agency had found that Shah had allegedly given illegal instructions to freeze the investigation in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Tulsi was an aide of Sohrabuddin, a gangster who was also killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat police. Tulsi was allegedly killed because he knew the truth about the fake encounter in which Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauserbi, were killed a year back.

The CBI has also submitted call details, graphs and all relevant records containing Shah’s cellphone number and the mobile numbers of the accused police officers, the sources said.

According to sources, the CBI has alleged in its chargesheet that Shah had held a closed-door meeting at Gandhinagar Circuit House, on March 3, 2006. Shah was apparently displeased with the speed and enthusiasm shown by police inspector VL Solanki of state CID (crime) in investigating the Sohrabuddin case, said sources.

The CBI has also mentioned that among the IPS officers who attended the meeting was retired IPS officer GC Raigar who was then heading CID (crime). The central probe agency has claimed that Raigar had refused to obey the illegal orders allegedly given by Amit Shah at the meeting regarding the investigation in the Sohrab case, the sources said.

Solanki had sought permission to question Tulsi Prajapati (who was then lodged in Udaipur jail) in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter. The sources said that the CBI had stated in its chargesheet that before Solanki could get permission to go to Udaipur, Tulsi was killed in a fake encounter.

Prajapati was killed at Danta near Ambaji in Banaskantha district on December 28, 2006 in a staged encounter carried out jointly by the Gujarat police and the Rajasthan police.  The CBI has also mentioned in its chargesheet about two prior attempts, made jointly by Gujarat and Rajasthan police, to kill Prajapati in a fake encounter, said the sources. Some IPS officers named in the Prajapati case like DG Vanzara and RK Pandian, are also facing charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, and are currently in jail.