CBI has questioned Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah in connection with the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and is likely to file a supplementary charge sheet soon.
The move comes after jailed IPS officer DG Vanzara’s resignation letter claimed that the Gujarat Government was monitoring every police action during that period. Vanzara had also claimed in his resignation letter that the Gujarat Government was “inspiring, guiding and monitoring” every police action from “very close quarters.” Shah was Minister of State for Home when the encounter took place.
When asked by reporters late on Friday evening, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had refused to give specifics of the probe but had said investigation in Ishrat case is complete and a supplementary charge sheet will be filed by month-end. He had also said additional charge sheet in Tulsiram Prajapati case is also being finalised and will be filed by November 15. The agency spokesperson, however, did not confirm or deny questioning of Shah.
Sources said Vanzara, during his questioning by CBI in Sabarmati Jail, had reiterated the stand taken by him in the resignation letter that police officials accused in various encounter cases were merely implementing “conscious policy” of the State Government towards eliminating terrorism. The agency is likely to detail the conspiracy angle and the alleged cover-up by officials of the Gujarat Police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) at whose behest the encounter is alleged to have taken place.
Vanzara, who is lodged in Sabarmati Jail after CBI named him as the main accused in the 2004 alleged fake encounter case, was recently quizzed about the contents of his resignation letter. The 59-year-old former Deputy Inspector General of Police sent his resignation letter on September 1 in which he expressed bitterness over the way the Modi Government had failed to stand by him and other officers who implemented the State’s “conscious policy” of “eliminating terrorism”.
Shah, who is BJP’s UP in-charge, is charge-sheeted in other encounter cases of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati and was arrested in the first case in July 2010. He is out on bail now.