Ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly polls, the CBI on Tuesday chargesheeted senior Rajasthan BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria and three others in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
The move to charge a BJP leader comes close on the heels of sacking of two UPA Cabinet Ministers who were embroiled in professional impropriety and corruption.
Sheikh was a notorious terrorist involved in arms smuggling in Madhya Pradesh and faced murder cases in Gujarat and Rajasthan and was associated with terror outfit lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Pakistan’s ISI and planned to create communal chaos by assassinating “an important political leader” in Gujarat, according to an Intelligence Bureau alert prior to his elimination by the police. After his killing, the IB has tightlipped on its alert. Not surprisingly, anti-terror squads of different States now avoid acting on IB alerts against wanted terrorists.
Kataria is the second high profile politician to be named in the alleged fake encounter case after former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, considered close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Besides Kataria, CBI also chargesheeted Andhra Pradesh Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) N Balasubramanyam, Director of RK Marble, Vimal Patni and another Andhra Pradesh Police officer G Srinivasa Rao under sections related to criminal conspiracy, murder, abduction, wrongful confinement and causing disappearance of evidence among others.
A designated court in Mumbai issued summons to Kataria and three others to appear before it after the agency filed the supplementary chargesheet, which runs into 500 pages. They have been asked to appear before the court on June 4.
In its 500-page supplementary chargesheet, CBI has alleged Sheikh was “eliminated” for demanding Rs 24 crore from Patni who was introduced to Amit Shah, also an accused in the case, by Kataria, the then Rajasthan Home Minister.
The Supreme Court had last year transferred the trial of Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case to Maharashtra from Gujarat as CBI said witnesses were being intimidated and the trial could not be held in a free and fair manner in Gujarat.
The first chargesheet was filed on February 1 this year in which Gujarat BJP leader Amit Shah was chargesheeted.
CBI alleged Kataria was the “link” between Patni and Shah and got Patni introduced to the latter.