The CBI, probing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, is likely to question Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in this connection. It is also likely to file a status report with the Supreme Court in a few days, in which it is expected to argue that questioning Mr Modi is crucial to ascertaining certain facts in the case.
Sources said the CBI is likely to ask Mr Modi the reason for the sudden urgency in asking Gujarat IPS officer O.P. Mathur to take charge as state CID chief at midnight on February 3, 2007. It is suspected that the investigation into the alleged fake encounter was manipulated after Mr Mathur took charge. Mr Mathur himself will also be questioned by the agency in this regard, but the CM’s version is regarded as far more important.
The CBI has also summoned Ms Geeta Johri, Gujarat’s first woman IPS officer, for questioning in the case. Ms Johri was also associated with the Sohrabuddin investigation when she was posted with the state CID.
The CBI is also likely to mention in the report the alleged non-cooperation of Mr Amit Shah, Gujarat’s former minister of state for home now under arrest, during his interrogation which is being recorded. The sources said the agency may seek permission from the court to conduct certain scientific tests on him which can help the investigation in view of his attitude.
Investigations by the agency revealed that Mr Shah accepted that Sohrabuddin was killed as he had “closed the alternative of keeping himself alive“ and that there were “political compulsions which an ordinary person like him would not understand”, sources claimed. The chargesheet filed by the CBI said “the false encounter had dual motives: one political, and the other monetary benefits involved in the encounter”.