Gujarat ex-minister, cops, bankers appear in court

Former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah along with seven others booked in the fake encounter case of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausarbi, appeared before the additional metropolitan magistrate at Esplanade court on Friday.

Former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah along with seven others booked in the fake encounter case of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausarbi, appeared before the additional metropolitan magistrate at Esplanade court on Friday.

HT Image

Additional metropolitan magistrate AA Khan had, on Tuesday, issued summons to Shah and seven other accused, who are on bail, and 11 former cops including DG Vanjara, Rajkumar Pandian and Abhay Chudasma, who are lodged in Sabarmati jail, Ahmedabad.

They were asked to be present in court on Friday.

Apart from Shah, suspended cops VA Rathod and NV Chauhan, constables Santram Sharma and Ajay Parmar; owner of Arham farm Rajendra Jeerawala, chairman of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, Ajay Patel and director of the same bank, Yashpal Chudasama, appeared before the court on Friday.

All eight accused are on bail and reached the court much before time.

The accused cops who are in jail skipped the hearing as the summons reached late and the jail authorities could not arrange for them to reach Mumbai on time.

Chaladan submitted that due to some management issues the accused who are lodged in jail could not be produced and hence fresh production warrants may be issued.

The magistrate also observed that unless the custody of all accused was transferred to Mumbai the other proceedings could not be taken forward.

"The accused have to be transferred and lodged in jail in Mumbai without which the case cannot be committed," the magistrate observed.