NEW DELHI: Former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been directed to appear before the CBI in Delhi this week for questioning in connection with the 2006 fake encounter case of Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness to the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and wife Kausarbi.
Presently, Shah is out on bail in connection with the Sohrabuddin case.
As per the bail conditions, Shah has been living outside Gujarat, mostly in Delhi.
According to CBI sources, investigation officials are expected to confront Shah with details of mobile telephone records that was obtained during the investigation. The call records pertains to Shah’s contacts with police officers including the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) D G Vanzara, who is also an accused in the twin murder case.
In December last year, the agency had questioned two Gujarat police officials, Yashpal Chudasama and Ajay Patel, both believed to be close to Amit Shah.
Prajapati, a close aide of Sohrabuddin, was allegedly killed in a fake encounter near Chapri village in Banaskantha district on December 28, 2006.
The agency took over the case on April 8, 2011 following a Supreme Court directive. It registered an FIR against Gujarat and Rajasthan police officials and others for their alleged involvement in the criminal conspiracy of wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, abduction and murder of Tulsi Prajapati and destroying evidence.
The FIR states that Prajapati was killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat police as he was a key eyewitness to the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005.