Sohrabuddin encounter: Modi slams CBI case against Amit Shah

BHAVNAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday publicly slammed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case against his close aide and former State Home Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter, as a political attempt to undermine his Government.

Addressing the media here today, Modi said : “Give up trying to frighten Narendra Modi. He has not been and will not be intimidated.

Taking at dig at the Congress-led Government at the Centre, Modi on Thursday said the Congress would have to field CBI officers in the state civic polls as the party has conceded defeat to the BJP.

“Whatever has happened last week proves that Congress has conceded defeat ahead of in Gujarat civic polls. They won’t field their candidates. They will field CBI officers. No political game using CBI will bring success in Gujarat,” he added, while talking to the media in Ahmedabad.

The Congress party on Friday hit back at Narendra Modi, saying the law will catch up with the Gujarat Chief Minister.

“The honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat is terrorised by his own sins. It is intrinsic to Hindu mythology that you have to account for your sins,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari.

“The Chief Minster may have misused Hindu faith, but he has not internalised the intrinsic ethos of the Hindu culture - that you have to account for your sins, and the Law has a strange way of catching up with you,” he added.

Earlier today, the CBI submitted its status report on the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case to the Supreme Court.

According to television reports, CBI in its status report has asked for the case to be shifted out of Gujarat as it feels that investigation cannot be carried out in an impartial manner in the State.

The CBI is also learnt to have said that it will investigate the fake encounter of Tulsiram Prajapati, the man who allegedly witnessed the killing of Sohrabuddin.

The apex Court had set July 31 as the deadline for the CBI to submit its status report into the case.

Earlier, the CBI summoned Geetha Johri, the first woman IPS officer of Gujarat, in connection with the case.

Johri, who was the part of Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case, has been asked to appear before the CBI on August 10.

The CBI has also summoned former Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) P C Pandey and asked him to appear before it on August 11. andey was DGP of Gujarat when the state CID was investigating the fake encounter case.

Meanwhile, the CBI team is likely to seek permission from its headquarters to question Narendra Modi in connection with the case.he investigating agency may want Modi to answer some questions in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

The CBI wants to know if Modi was aware of the attempts being made by top police officials to scuttle the probe.

If Modi is summoned for questioning, it will be for the second time this year. He was earlier questioned by a Special Investigation Team in 2002 Gujarat riots case.

Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2005. (ANI)