Sohrabuddin case: Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah resigns

NEW DELHI/GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Home Minister Amit Shah charged with murder in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case has tendered his resignation.

Addressing the media persons in the national capital, Modi said : “Today, when I landed at the Delhi airport in the morning, I got a call that Amit Shah has sent in his resignation papers to my bungalow. I will go back and complete all the necessary formalities.”

“I accept his resignation but all the Constitutional formalities will be completed when I go back home,” he added.

Modi blasted at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre, asserting that the allegations agaisnt Shah are politically motivated.

“This is a conspiracy by the Congress. The Congress is trying to digress from the real issues. Amit Shah is completely innocent and all evidences against him are just fabricated. Everything is politically motivated,” said Modi.

“The whole country knows that during the 2007 elections, Congress had projected Sohrabuddin as a national hero and tried to cash in on him. However, they had to suffer a huge loss. This is a conspiracy against the Gujarat government,” he added.

Modi further said the Congress is just trying to avenge the 2007 election loss, asserting that it is an attempt to disturb the developmental trajectory Gujarat is following for long.

Gujarat Chief Minister lashed out at the Congress Government, saying that it is a Government of failures and has failed on every single stand it took.

“The Congress Government that is ruling the country has failed in curtailing price rise, they went to Pakistan and came back with nothing, their statements in the house instigate the Maoists making them kill innocent people, Kashmir is burning again,” said Modi.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Gandhinagar on Friday evening rejected Amit Shah’s anticipatory bail plea that he had filed through his lawyer to avoid arrest in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

The CBI has filed a 30,000-page charge sheet against Amit Shah, accusing him of complicity in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2005.

In March 2007, police said Sohrabuddin, belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba and was planning to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to avenge the death of Muslims killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The government also admitted that Sohrabuddin’s innocent wife Kausar Bi had been killed by the police and her body burnt in an attempt to remove traces of the crime.

The Gujarat Government admitted that senior police officers were directly involved in the killing of Sohrabuddin, and his wife, Kausar Bi, in 2005.

The admission came as a result of the intervention of Supreme Court, which ordered investigations into this case.

The CBI took up the case on directions of the Supreme Court. Earlier, the apex court had asked the CBI to probe if there was any larger conspiracy to the killings and submit the report by July 31. (ANI)