Amit Shah among main conspirators of Sohrabuddin encounter: Chief investigation officer

BJP chief Amit Shah and three IPS officers were the main conspirators behind the alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati, the chief investigation officer (CIO) of the case claimed in a CBI court here Wednesday.

CIO Sandeep Tamgade, who deposed during the ongoing trial, however, conceded that that his claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the charge sheet filed by him.

"From the investigation done by us, we found the principal conspirators were Amit Shah, D G Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector-General Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and M N Dinesh (IPS officer, Rajasthan Police)," Tamgade said.

All four have been discharged by the trial court in the case.

Tamgade claimed he was not naming Shah and others without evidence, but admitted that the claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the supplementary charge sheet filed in the case, he said.

Tamgade, then Superintendent of Police (CBI), had prepared a supplementary charge sheet in the Sohrabuddin case and the main charge sheet in the Tulsiram case. Both cases are being tried together before special CBI judge S J Sharma here.

To a question by the defence lawyer, Tamgade said he also had evidence to conclude that Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his partner Prajapati were "used" by Amit Shah, then Minister of State for Home in Gujarat, for firing at the office of an Ahmedabad-based builder.

He had interrogated Shah, marble trader from Rajasthan Vimal Patni, and Rajasthan minister Gulabchandra Kataria in the case, he said.

"There was some incriminating material against the trio. But those statements were not filed in the charge sheet," he said.

The defence then moved an application, saying the CBI should produce these statements in the court. The court will hear the application Thursday.

Shaikh, a suspected gangster with terror links, was shot dead on November 26, 2005 while he was in custody of Gujarat Police in an alleged fake encounter. His wife Kausar Bi was also allegedly killed later.

Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police forces of Gujarat and Rajasthan at Chapri in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006.

Of the 38 persons charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 15 have been discharged.