Justice R.H. Shukla of the Gujarat high court on Friday granted bail to former junior home minister of Gujarat Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Shah was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as one of the key accused and was charged with criminal conspiracy, extortion, triple murder, destruction of
evidence and threatening witnesses in the sensational staged killing case. While allowing Shah’s bail plea, the high court judge has directed him to produce a bond of `1 lakh and also remain present before CBI office once a month.
Meanwhile, the CBI is likely to approach the top court seeking cancellation of Shah’s bail granted by the high court. “We will first study the court’s order and then explore the options available to us,” a senior official of CBI said.
Earlier, a special CBI court on October 8 had rejected Shah’s bail application on the ground there were adequate evidence to support Shah’s involvement in the crime. Appearing for Shah, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani had submitted that the Central agency was “working at behest of the UPA government at centre to implicate Shah on the basis of fabricated evidence.” However, CBI counsel K.T.S. Tulsi had argued that more than a dozen witnesses have given their testimony regarding Shah’s involvement in the fake encounter case and subsequent killings of Sohrabuddin’s wife Kauser Bi in November 2005 and Tulsiram Prajapati in December 2006.
In the staged shootout case, besides Shah, four IPS officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan and half-a-dozen middle-ranking police officials are allegedly involved and are lodged in Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad.