Sohrabuddin case: Gujarat minister fails to appear before CBI (Second Lead)

GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Amit Shah Thursday failed to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which had summoned him in connection with the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake shootout in Ahmedabad.

The investigating agency later served a second notice on him directing him to appear before it at 1 p.m. Friday.

Earlier, state government’s official spokesperson and Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas said that the process of law would be complied with, signalling that Shah would appear before the CBI Thursday.

The CBI decided to serve the second notice on Shah after he failed to present himself at 1 p.m.

Sources said that the CBI had been trying since the last three days to serve the summons on the minister, considered a close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Finally, a copy of the summons was pasted outside his residence and a copy of it was served at his office.

Shah has been accused of calling up policemen involved in the killing of Sheikh, who police claimed was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. The CBI collected the phone records of the minister to prove his role in the execution of the staged killing, sources said.

The Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has been accused of killing Sheikh in a staged shootout Nov 26, 2005, in Ahmedabad. His wife Kauserbi has been missing ever since.

On Jan 12 this year, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to register a case against the policemen from Gujarat and Rajasthan involved in Sheikh’s killing. A case was registered Feb 1.

An Indian Police Service officer, Abhay Chudasama, was arrested soon after the CBI took over the case. Chudasama, the 15th policeman to be arrested in the case, was posted as deputy commissioner of police in Ahmedabad at the time of his arrest and was earlier a member of the state ATS.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Sheikh’s brother Rubabuddin Sheikh stated that the victim and his wife were picked up by an ATS team and the Rajasthan Special Task Force on Nov 25, 2005, while the couple was going to Nashik from Hyderabad.

On Nov 28, 2005, the ATS and the STF claimed that Sohrabuddin was killed in a shootout near Ahmedabad.

The cops claimed he had come to Ahmedabad with the intention of targeting senior political leaders and to engage in subversive activities.