Two Sohrab case witnesses arrested in land scam

Three builders, including two prime witnesses in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, were arrested in connection with a Rs 100-crore land scam today, city crime branch officials said.

Three builders, including two prime witnesses in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, were arrested in connection with a Rs 100-crore land scam today, city crime branch officials said here.

HT Image

The two witnesses, Dashrat Patel and Raman Patel, and their relative, Pankaj Patel, who own a construction firm 'Popular Builders', were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed in 2010, police said.

The three builders were accused of forging documents to acquire land in Sachin, Unn Taluka, they added.

Dashrat and Raman are the the prime witnesses in the fake encounter case, wherein former Gujarat minister of state for Home, Amit Shah, is the main accused.

According to the CBI chargesheet, in December 2004, Gujarat police had orchestrated a shoot-out at the office of Popular Builders, using close aides of Sohrabuddin, in order to frame him.

The Patel brothers were allegedly told, at Shah's behest, that they would be given written statements, according to which they would have to depose before the CBI.

The brothers had four meeting with Shah's middlemen. They videographed them and the recordings form a major evidence against Shah and other accused.