The CBI is beginning to tighten the noose around Amit Shah, the former Gujarat home minister and a close aide of chief minister Narendra Modi. Highly-placed CBI sources have revealed that controversial senior Gujarat police official D.G. Vanzara, who is currently under suspension, has told CBI interrogators that Mr Shah had personally cleared and supervised high-profile alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Tulsiram Prajapati and Ishrat Jahan.
Top CBI officials have been having marathon interrogation sessions over the last few days with Mr Vanzara who is currently lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail.
Mr Vanzara, sources said, has also given hints that the possibility of Mr Modi also being aware of these encounters cannot be ruled out. However, Mr Vanzara is not naming Mr Modi directly yet, sources revealed.
Mr Vanzara had, earlier this month, in his resignation letter to the state home department, claimed that he and his team were only following the policy laid down by the state government as far as the issue of encounters is concerned.
Mr Vanzara’s fresh revelations could spell trouble for Mr Modi, who has already been named the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate as well as Mr Shah, who has been made in charge of the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh.
The CBI, however, faces a hitch as Mr Vanzara’s disclosures to it cannot be admissible as evidence in a court of law unless his statement is recorded before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
Sources claimed that Mr Vanzara has put forward a set of stringent pre-conditions before the CBI before he turns “approver”. Mr Vanzara, sources claimed, wants the CBI to facilitate his bail as he has been lodged in jail for more than five years now. He also wants assurance from the CBI that he would not be “hounded by the agency” in any future case or investigations.