The State BJP has called for Rajasthan Bandh on May 18 in protest against falsely implicating its senior leader Gulab Chand Kataria by the CBI in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
State BJP president Vasundhara Raje after having parleys with party leaders on Thursday announced the decision to call the bandh.
Talking to mediapersons she alleged it was Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on whose behalf the CBI had implicated Kataria in the case. She said with tremendous response to her Suraj Sankalp Yatra, ruling party is fearing defeat in the coming Assembly polls and that was the reason its leadership is trying to malign the BJP leaders.
Raje said that the Supreme Court on September 27, 2012 had passed an order directing the CBI to complete its investigation in the Sohrabuddin case and file the final chargesheet in the trial court within six weeks. “This order was passed at the behest of the CBI,” she said.
Raje said that it is surprising that the CBI did not obey the Supreme Court orders and suddenly came out with a third supplementary chargesheet to make Kataria an accused in the case.
She charged the CBI had done this under the pressure of the ruling party and Gehlot was behind this move. Raje said that Kataria, who enjoys immense political credibility, is a man of integrity. Charges against him were not only baseless but also fabricated ones, she said.
Raje said Kataria is the second leader of the party, other than Rajendra Rathore, who has been implicated in the false case by the CBI to please its political bosses. She said the entire party is behind these two leaders on this issue.
Meanwhile, Kataria said if he was arrested on June 4, when he has been asked to appear before the court in Mumbai, he would resign from the Assembly and would contest election only after he gets exonerated from the charges.