Recoveries made during the custodial interrogation of the former Gujarat Deputy Superintendent of Police, Narendra Amin, accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, and evidence as revealed in the conversation between two other accused would clearly show how the former Gujarat Minister, Amit Shah, gave instructions for the killing of Kausar Bi, wife of Sohrabuddin, the CBI said in its status report filed in the Supreme Court.
The agency said that after the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin, Kausar Bi was shifted to the Arham Farm, near Gandhinagar, from Disha. At the Arham Farm, one of the accused directed Mr. Amin to liquidate Kausar Bi and dispose of her skeletal remains as she was an eyewitness to the abduction of Sohrabuddin.
The CBI said it came to light that the Sohrabuddin gang was holding out extortion threats to the proprietors of R.K. Marbles, Sangam Textiles and others in Rajasthan. The Sohrabuddin gang also had a dispute with Hamid Lala gang, which was acting as a protector of the marble lobby and collecting protection money.
In gang rivalry Hamid Lala was murdered. Extortion threats by the Sohrabuddin gang created panic and fear among businessmen in and around Udaipur, Rajasthan, who approached the police officers and senior political functionaries, and the accused from Rajasthan conspired to eliminate Sohrabuddin.
As regards the motive of the accused from Gujarat, the CBI said evidence revealed that it was extortion. “There is evidence of nexus among criminals, police officers and politicians in Gujarat. Some of the accused from Gujarat were making use of the Sohrabuddin gang for extortion. There is also evidence that after the elimination of Sohrabuddin, the threat of killing by similar encounters was used for purposes of extortion.”
The CBI said: “The Gujarat police, in order to create a recent case against Sohrabuddin, stage-managed a firing [incident] using his own gang members on the premises of Popular Builders, owned by Patel Brothers, in Ahmedabad on December 8, 2004. One of the accused and Amit Shah used the said firing for extorting money from Patel Brothers. They directed Patel Brothers to give statements against Sohrabuddin and others, failing which they would face dire consequences. When they did not toe their line, both brothers were made accused in the said case.”
The report said investigation revealed that Mr. Shah tried to influence/threaten witnesses to conceal the truth from the CBI about the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin, thereby tampering with evidence.
Published - August 13, 2010 01:59 am IST
