Gujarat’s controversial former minister of state for home Amit Shah, a close associate of chief minister Narendra Modi, was finally arrested by the CBI on Sunday for his role in the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and others five years ago.
Mr Shah, who resigned as a minister on Saturday after being chargesheeted by the CBI in the case and had been on the run for almost three days, was arrested by CBI officials almost immediately after he reached its office here on Sunday afternoon accompanied by some state BJP leaders. He was then taken to magistrate A.Y. Dave’s house, who remanded him to 13 days in judicial custody at Sabarmati Central Jail.
Mr Shah, who had been charged with murder and several other crimes, arrived at the CBI’s Gandhinagar office at around 2 pm to answer the summons sent to him. He had been missing since Thursday and had not appeared before the CBI for questioning despite repeated summonses.
Mr Shah had sent his resignation letter to the chief minister on Saturday, and it was subsequently forwarded to the governor.
Earlier in the day, Mr Shah made a dramatic entry at a press conference called by the state BJP unit to declare that he was innocent, and that he would go straight to the CBI office for questioning. Surrounded by posters carrying slogans proclaiming his innocence and attacking the Congress Party and the CBI, Mr Shah said calmly that all the charges against him were “fabricated and politically-motivated”, and vowed to “expose” those who were trying to “frame” him.
“The chargesheet has been made at the behest of the Congress. It is fabricated, and had nothing to do with my summons. I am not afraid of anyone. We will fight the legal battle, and expose those who have tried to wrong us in court,” he said, adding that he had full faith in the judiciary.
Mr Shah said he had received the CBI summons only on Saturday, and said he would respond to all charges. He said he would like his entire questioning by the CBI to be videotaped and submitted to the court.
He said he would go to the CBI office after the press conference and “if they arrest me, all legal options are open to me.” He then added: “Gujarat is the only state which doesn’t have a case of terrorism pending. All cases have been solved. The police officers wrongly charged with killing Sohrabuddin have arrested 400 people in terror-related cases. That is not highlighted. There are 1,700 encounters across India. To highlight (only) those in Gujarat is a political conspiracy by the Congress government.” Mr Shah then went on to seek the “cooperation” of the media.
The former minister said the Congress was “misusing the CBI for electoral gain” in Gujarat, “For the last 20 years, the Congress has not won even a municipal election in Gujarat. The Gujarat electorate has not accepted them, and they have been comprehensively beaten... This is their only recourse.”
“I have read (in) the media that charges of murder and extortion have been slapped on me by the CBI... I have done nothing wrong and I am being implicated by the agency at the instance of the Central government headed by the Congress,” Mr Shah said.
He parried questions on why he had remained in constant touch with police officials accused of organising the staged shootout in which Sohrabuddin had been killed in November 2005. He also did not respond to questions on the extortion racket he is alleged to have been involved in along with the police officials.
In New Delhi, meanwhile, the CBI said it was likely to seek Mr Shah’s custody next week after examining two senior police officials, including Ms Geetha Johri, who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 riots.
Sources said that Mr Shah needed to be confronted with some people who had been examined by the CBI in the case. Sources said that besides Ms Johri, a 1982-batch IPS officer, the CBI also planned to record the statement of former Ahmedabad police commissioner O.P. Mathur, who had retired last year.
In Ahmedabad, meanwhile, Mr Shah’s lawyer Nirupam Nanavaty asked at the magistrate’s house hearing why, since the accused was being produced before a magistrate within an hour of his arrest, police custody was not being sought for interrogation purposes.
To this, CBI investigation officer Amitabh Thakur said it was the agency’s prerogative to determine when to produce the accused in court and whether to seek police custody. The magistrate said the agency was well within its rights on the matter, and he could not compel it to seek police custody.
Sabarmati Central Jail, where Mr Shah has been sent, also houses as many as 14 police officials arrested in connection with the same case.