The inquiry into the 2005 fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, on the basis of which three Indian Police Service officers have been arrested, has also said that Gujarat's Minister of State for Home Amit Shah tried to scuttle the probe.
The report prepared by Geeta Johri, then Inspector-General of Police, state CID (Crime), said Shah colluded with the officers responsible for the fake encounter.
Contacted by the Hindustan Times, Shah refused to comment.
The inquiry, undertaken on the orders of the Supreme Court, concludes that “the collusion of the state government in the form of Amit Shah, MoS for Home, is by far the most serious aspect of the entire sordid episode”. It adds: “This makes a complete mockery of the rule of law and is perhaps an example of the involvement of the state government in a major crime.”
The report also documents how Shah tried to sabotage the probe. It says he put pressure on G.C. Raigar, commandant of the Home Guards, who also held the post of additional DGP, CID (Crime). Raigar, the report says, “directed Johri to suspend the inquiry and took away the papers of inquiry under the guise of scrutiny”.
The report says Shah had asked Raigar to provide him with the list of witnesses —both police personnel and private citizens — whom the CID (Crime) had yet to contact to record their statements in the inquiry.
{{/usCountry}}The report says Shah had asked Raigar to provide him with the list of witnesses —both police personnel and private citizens — whom the CID (Crime) had yet to contact to record their statements in the inquiry.
{{/usCountry}}“Such direction from the MoS (Home) goes beyond the scope of his office, was patently illegal and apparently designed to provide the same list to the accused police officers to enable them to take measures in their defence,” the report says.