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 on 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, DG Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector-General Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and MN 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 chargesheet filed in the case, he said.
Tamgade, then Superintendent of Police (CBI), had prepared a supplementary chargesheet in the Sohrabuddin case and the main chargesheet in the Tulsiram case. Both cases are being tried together before special CBI judge SJ 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.