New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday asked former minister Amit Shah to stay out of Gujarat and leave the state by Sunday morning but did not cancel his bail on which hearing will be held on November 15.
The decision came at a special hearing at Justice Aftab Alam's residence here on CBI's plea seeking cancellation of his bail granted by the Gujarat High Court on Thursday in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
The Bench also comprising Justice R.M. Lodha directed Shah to leave the state by Sunday morning and asked him to stay out till further order and posted the matter for next hearing on November 15.
The court asked the CBI to supply a copy of its petition to Shah by November six asking him to reply by November 12 after which the agency will file its rejoinder.
Senior advocate, Mr K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for CBI, submitted that there was likelihood of Shah influencing the witnesses in the case.
The Bench, holding the hearing at Justice Alam's residence, wanted to know from Shah's lawyer whether he would leave Gujarat. To this, his counsel, Mr Upender Yadav told the court that he was ready for it.
Thereafter the court passed the order, directing Shah to leave the state by Sunday. The hearing lasted for 45 minutes.
46-year-old Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, had got a reprieve from the high court which granted him bail three months after his arrest in connection with the Sohrabuddin case.
Shah had quit the Modi government in July this year after being slapped with charges of murder and kidnapping in the fake encounter killing of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in 2005.
Outside Justice Alam's residence, CBI counsel Mr Tulsi said that the court allowed his plea to keep Shah away from Gujarat.
"He is quite an influential person in his state and this is evident from the fact that he was released from prison around 10.30 last night which is against the prison rules," he told reporters. CBI had last night approached the apex court seeking cancellation of the bail granted by the High Court to Shah. The agency had sought urgent hearing by knocking the doors of Deputy Registrar's residence around 10.30 PM, hours after its top brass decided to challenge the High Court order granting bail to Shah.