Armed with evidence given by two IPS officers, the CBI is set to fortify its case against former Gujarat junior home minister Amit Shah, an accused in two instances of fake encounter deaths.
Suspended IPS official Sanjiv Bhatt gave testimony before the Supreme Court and his colleague Rajnish Rai before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on the fake encounter death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005 and the stage-managed killing of Tulsiram Prajapati in 2006.
The CBI is probing both the cases on the orders of the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, Bhatt provided details to the CBI about how the Gujarat government allegedly tried to subvert investigation in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
The CBI also said Bhatt had obtained the evidence from the email account of additional advocate general Tushar Mehta, a close friend of the IPS officer CBI officials said it was apparent from the documents that besides Mehta, bureaucrats attached with chief minister Narendra Modi's office, the state home department and senior police officers were attempting to help Shah to defend himself.
The agency may again question Bhatt after verifying the documents obtained from him. In his additional affidavit filed on July 26 before the Supreme Court, Bhatt brought out a series of emails exchanged between Mehta and officials in the chief minister's office, the home department and others about their alleged efforts to scuttle the probe into the Gujarat riots of 2002 and the fake encounter cases.
{{/usCountry}}The agency may again question Bhatt after verifying the documents obtained from him. In his additional affidavit filed on July 26 before the Supreme Court, Bhatt brought out a series of emails exchanged between Mehta and officials in the chief minister's office, the home department and others about their alleged efforts to scuttle the probe into the Gujarat riots of 2002 and the fake encounter cases.
{{/usCountry}}"I have provided documents the CBI asked for regarding the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case," Bhatt said.
Besides this, an affidavit filed by Rajnish Rai before the CAT reportedly gives details about how former director general of police PC Pande, additional director general OP Mathur and former minister Amit Shah tried to derail the Sohrabuddin case probe, which Rai was conducting.
The CBI will make Rai a witness in the case.