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Sending a strong message that the Bharatiya Janata Party was firmly behind jailed Amit Shah, the party's senior leader L K Advani went to Sabarmati prison to meet the former Gujarat minister who is an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case.
The visit of Advani, who is the second BJP leader to meet the close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the prison after Arun Jaitley visited him on September 11, came a day after the party broke into Congress bastion winning a bye-election in Kathlal assembly constituency for the first time in five decades.
Endorsing Modi's views, Advani slammed the Centre for using CBI as a tool in targeting the BJP government in the state agaisnt the backdrop of the former minister of state for home being booked in the Sohrabuddin case by the central investigating agency.
Advani also visited Shah's residence in Naranpura area to meet his family members. "The Centre is using CBI as a tool to defame our government which is absolutely incorrect. People will give them the reply of this. The results of yesterday's by-election is not ordinary," Advani said after meeting the family members.
Advani was accompanied by state BJP in-charge Balbir Punj. "Me and Advani together met Shah in the jail today," Punj told PTI. Advani's visit assumes significance as it reflects BJP's stand that the BJP has not abandoned Shah despite him being behind bars.
The BJP has maintained that Shah is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the 2005 fake encounter case. Shah has been described by the CBI as the "kingpin" of the entire conspiracy leading to the killing of Sohrabuddin in the fake encounter, killing of his wife Kausarbi and also Tulsi Prajapati, a key witness.