Amit Shah’s bail hearing adjourned to Wednesday

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat High Court Tuesday adjourned for a day the hearing on the bail plea of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah, a prime accused in the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in an alleged staged shootout.

Justice R.H. Shukla adjourned the case as counsel could not complete their arguments even though the hearing continued for over 50 minutes after the court’s regular working hours.

During the hearing, counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) K.T.S. Tulsi argued: “The state’s entire machinery is being utilised to support Amit Shah and to rescue him from the case.”

He argued that the office of the jail superintendent had been converted into Shah’s office where he holds regular meetings. Despite being in the jail, Shah is very powerful and due to him the witnesses are turning hostile, Tulsi argued.

Opposing the bail plea, Tulsi said that Shah is making desperate attempts to tamper with evidence and has been threatening witnesses.

“Here is a case where the guardians of law - the senior police officers and the minister of state for home - have a nexus with hard core criminals and all work together to run an extortion racket,” he said.

Describing the conspiracy, Tulsi said that Sohrabuddin’s phone was being tapped illegally by Dinesh M.N., an IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre now suspended and lodged in Sabarmati central prison.

He also said that Sohrabuddin was getting 25 percent share of the extorted amount and the rest remained with Abhay Chudasama, the suspended deputy commissioner of police of the city crime branch. He contended that bail should be denied to Shah so that it could be established that there is a rule of law.

“It’s not about the trustworthiness of the CBI, it’s about establishing the rule of law,” he argued.

In another development, the CBI court granted permission to take voice samples of three accused lodged in jail.

Special Court Judge A.Y. Dave granted the CBI permission to take voice samples of suspended police officers Abhay Chudasama, N.K. Amin and N.V. Chauhan though it turned down the plea for similar samples of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank’s office bearers Ajay Patel and Yashpal Chudasama.

The CBI had sought permission to conduct voice spectrograph of five people accused in the Sohrabuddin case. Amin had recorded a conversation on the sly with Chauhan that revealed the entire shootout plot and the sting tapes were presented to court as evidence.