Ahmedabad/New Delhi, July 25: Gujarat’s former minister of state for home, Mr Amit Shah, said 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.
Mr Shah 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.”
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. He also did not respond to questions on the extortion racket he is alleged to have been involved in along with them.
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. 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.