New Delhi, September 03: The Supreme Court order of January 12, 2010, transferring the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the product of an “understanding” between a judge, the Central Government and the CBI, former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah has told the apex court.
In his 89-page petition, Shah quotes international criminal trials, including that of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, to argue that when the court appears “biased,” its proceedings should be set aside. Then, launching an unprecedented attack on the Supreme Court, Shah demanded a “re-call” of its January 12 order and the one on August 11 giving the CBI three more months to complete the probe.
His reason, according to the petition settled by Ram Jethmalani: “the order (is) a product of a tripartite understanding and arrangement to the effect that the CBI investigation would be ordered by Hon’ble Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee (the lead judge who issued the January 12 order) as desired by the Central Government, the Central government will provide the Hon’ble Justice a post-retirement assignment, and the CBI will refrain from chargesheeting the Hon’ble Justice in the PF scam case.”
Shah, who is in CBI custody, was admitted to a hospital on September 1. His bail plea is pending. The CBI filed a 2,000-page chargesheet on July 23, accusing him of murder, extortion, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy, forceful detention and destruction of evidence, among other offences under the Indian Penal Code.
The 46-year-old former BJP minister said his is neither a review nor a curative petition. He said that he was neither sent a prior notice nor given an opportunity to be heard before the court passed the order.
“Having failed to tarnish the image of the Gujarat Government and its Chief Minister in the Gujarat riots cases, the Congress Party and the Central Government under its rule, has now selected the Sohrabuddin case, out of over 700 cases of encounters all over India that took place during 2002 to 2007, for the same nefarious purpose,” Shah alleged.
Asking why the CBI is not investigating the role of the Andhra Pradesh Police in the alleged abduction, Shah sought the removal of Kandaswamy, IPS, who is in charge of the CBI investigation, and Balwinder Singh, a former Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad, who is supervising the case from Delhi for “suppressing the role of the AP police”.
He said that the “most shocking aspect of the CBI investigation is that Balwinder Singh who ought to be answering questions from any investigator of the Sobrabuddin encounter on the role of the AP police is now supervising the very investigation and Geetha Johri, who as the head of the Gujarat CID Crime was heading the investigation of the Sohrabuddin encounter and was wanting to question Balwinder Singh, is now being questioned and even threatened with arrest.”
-Agencies