 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Pulling up Gujarat government for its failure in handing over telephone call details of senior police officials pertaining to Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, the Supreme Court today directed the state to place before it all CDs in that regard on Wednesday.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai gave the direction to the state government taking strong exceptions to the withholding of the CDs on police officers' call details by it from the CBI which is probing the case.
"On Wednesday, you (Gujarat government) must have CDs with you," the bench said. It is a very "disappointing" and a "serious matter" that in 9-10 days of the hearing in the apex court, this information has been withheld, it said.
Gujarat's Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta assured the bench that if there is any such CD in the custody of the state, it would be placed before it on the next date of hearing.
During the proceedings, the bench also asked senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who is assisting the court in the case as amicus curiae, to point out the CBI lapses in its probe.
The court's direction to the state government came during the hearing of a CBI plea challenging the Gujarat high court's order granting bail to former state Home Minister Amit Shah, who is facing trial for his alleged involvement in the 2005 Sohrabuddin fake encounter killing by police.
The CBI plea has also sought the transfer of his trial to a place outside the state.
Shah, a close aide of state Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was arrested by the CBI on July 25 last year and had spent over three months in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad.
He has been accused by the agency of being the "kingpin" of the conspiracy leading to the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005. His wife Kausarbi and Tulsiram Prajapati, said to be his accomplice, were also killed later.
Earlier, 46-year-old Shah had contended before the apex court that he was implicated in the case because the Centre wanted to "destabilise" the Narendra Modi government.
Sohrabuddin and his wife were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Hyderabad. Prajapati was also subsequently eliminated allegedly by ATS to destroy evidence as he was an eye witness.