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Court
grants bail to Gujarat ex-minister Amit Shah
Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:43:34 PM, IANS
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Ahmedabad:
The Gujarat High Court Friday granted bail to former minister of
state for home Amit Shah, who was arrested July 25 in the
Sohrabbudin Sheikh staged shootout case of 2005.
Justice R.H. Shukla allowed the release of Shah, a legislator of
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Sarkhej in Ahmedabad, on a
bond of Rs.1 lakh.
Shah, who was lodged in the Sabarmati jail, has been asked to
report once a week at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
office for the first three weeks and thereafter once a month.
The judge reserved his order for Friday after hearing counsel from
both sides Wednesday.
Appearing for Shah, senior lawyer and BJP MP Ram Jethmalani termed
the CBI court's decision denying Shah bail as one which showed
complete lack of judicial balance.
He argued that Sohrabuddin was an extortionist and a racketeer and
the entire CBI exercise was politically motivated to tarnish the
reputation of Shah.
"The Gujarat Police were honest in admitting that Sohrabuddin's
killing was a fake encounter. There is no circumstantial evidence
nor eye-witness to prove the conspiracy theory," he added.
Appearing for the CBI, lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi said though the case
was initially investigated by Gujarat Police, the Supreme Court
thought it fit to hand it over to the CBI pointing out that the
motive behind the killing has not been investigated.
The Supreme Court had reasons to believe the deaths of Sohrabuddin,
his wife Kauserbi and Tulsiram Prajapati were to destroy human
witnesses, he contended.
Tulsi also argued that the Supreme Court had also found
discrepancies in the Action Taken Reports filed by the Gujarat
Police which failed to carry out impartial investigations.
The high court Oct 12 issued notices to the state government and
the CBI on Shah's petition seeking bail and quashing of the CBI
court order that had rejected his plea.
Special CBI judge G.K. Upadhyay Oct 8 refused to grant Shah bail
on grounds that he may tamper with evidence and pressure witnesses
by using his political clout.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh was gunned down Nov 26, 2005 and his wife died
in mysterious circumstances a few days later.
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