Sohrabuddin fake enounter: "Extreme pressure" led to withdrawal of case against BJP chief Amit Shah

Rubabuddin

By Our Representative
Well-known human rights lawyer Mihir Desai has alleged "extreme pressure" on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has taken finally a U-turn against its own charge sheet in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. He says, this appears to be a clear case of “caged parrot syndrome”, even as indicating it simultaneously suggests an effort to bury the case itself.
Pointing towards how Rubabuddin, Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s brother, “was the person who had brought the case to light 10 years ago by writing to the Supreme Court”, which was diligently followed up, Desai says, the way he decided to withdraw his complaint against BJP president Amit Shah in November this year points to the "extreme pressure brought on him." 

Senior advocate in the Mumbai High Court, who represented Rubabuddin, Desai says, "I can never forget the terror in his eyes and the helplessness when he did it.” He wonders, “The question still remains. Why did the CBI not adequately defend the case in the Sessions Court and why did it refuse to file an appeal. Is it the caged parrot syndrome?”
Desai points to how in December, 2005 Rubabuddin wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India complaining about the killing of his brother Sohrabuddin and the disappearance of his sister in law Kauser Bi at the hands of the Gujarat Police, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Rajasthan Police.
The Court forwarded the letter to the Director General of Police for an enquiry. During the pendency of the enquiry, Tulsiram Prajapati, a witness to the abduction of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi was, also killed in an extra-judicial killing. Rubabuddin approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI investigation.
The U turn in the Suhrabuddin case, says Desai in a detailed argument (click HERE to read), was preceded by the manner in which the case against Amit Shah, former minister of state for home of Gujarat and current BJP chief, was “not effectively defended" by the CBI in the court of law. The result was, court “discharged Amit Shah on December 30, 2014.”
Claiming that there is “sufficient material against Shah”, whom CBI had considered as a co-conspirator in the Sohtrabuddin fake encounter case in 2010, Desai says, “It was the CBI’s investigation, which led to his arrest and to the transfer of the case outside Gujarat.”
Significantly, Shah was discharged, says Desai, despite the fact that at that stage the Court was only required to see whether it was “a fit case for proceeding on trial.” Already, the CBI had found it a fit case to proceed on trial by filing the charge sheet.”
Desai further says, “In fact, ordinarily the CBI would have challenged the discharge order of the Sessions Court in the High Court - more so in a sensitive case like this where it had been appointed by the Supreme Court as the Investigating Agency and the trial had been transferred at the instance of the CBI due to the involvement of Amit Shah.”
The CBI charge sheet of July 23, 2010 called Shah “the lynchpin in the conspiracy”. It led to his arrest on October 29, 2010. “The CBI claimed that Shah presided over an extortion racket and that it was under his pressure and at his behest that the Gujarat police tried to cover up his involvement in the killings”, Desai says.