New Delhi, Sep. 27 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's rejection of the Central Bureau of Investigation's plea not to cancel the bail granted to former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
BJP leader Balbir Punj told media here that Shah was a victim of a political conspiracy.
"We knew right from the beginning that Amit Shah is the victim of a political conspiracy, and investigative agencies are being used to settle political scores. We always knew that he is innocent, and we have full faith in the impartiality, objectivity and independence of our judiciary. We are moving towards the dispensation of justice. We welcome the bail granted to Amit Shah, and the lifting of the ban on his travel to Gujarat," Punj said.
Meanwhile, speaking on the course the case would take in the future, social activist Teesta Setalvad said that while the transfer of the case would lead to greater transparency, she hoped that Shah would be monitored to prevent him from influencing witnesses.
"There will certainly be greater transparency than was possible in Gujarat, because from top to bottom, from the cabinet minister for home, MoS (minister of state) for home, DGP (Director-General of Police), senior police officers, obviously, had been found in the chargesheet to be interfering in the case, and therefore, it is to be hoped that influence will not be brought to bear in Maharashtra," Setalvad said.
Earlier, in a major blow to the CBI, the apex court rejected its plea for cancellation of bail of Amit Shah, close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
The apex court also allowed Shah to travel to Gujarat. The CBI had argued for cancellation of Shah's bail on the grounds that he may try to influence witnesses in the case.
The Supreme Court, however, ordered the shifting of trial to Mumbai, one of the key demands of the investigating agency.
Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Hyderabad and killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. Shah was arrested by the CBI on July 25, 2010 and had spent over three months in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad.
He had to quit the Modi government in July last year after having been slapped with kidnapping and murder charges in the fake encounter killing. (ANI)
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