Amit Shah, IPS officers face triple murder case

There are tough days ahead for BJP national general secretary Amit Shah, half-a-dozen IPS officers and two dozen policemen of Gujarat as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to formulate a case of triple murder - of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausarbi and Tulsi Prajapati - in a Mumbai court.

Last week, when the Supreme Court (SC) allowed Amit Shah’s plea to conduct trial by clubbing the two cases, the BJP cadres welcomed the judgment by considering it a reprieve for the BJP stalwart. However, if CBI sources are to be believed, the SC ruling is indeed a victory for the probe agency.

Now the trial court in Mumbai, as per the SC order, is all set to frame charges against the accused. Recently, during hearing of the Sohrabuddin case, the Mumbai court asked the CBI to submit draft charge memo to frame charges against the accused, so that it could start the trial.

According to the sources, with the top court’s ruling, by default it becomes a case of triple murder.

“As per SC direction, now trial of all three murders will proceed together as one trial before the Mumbai court,” said Yogesh Ravani, standing counsel for CBI. “The CBI has to place supplementary charge sheet before the Mumbai court and we will put all papers as early as possible,” he added.

As per law, the court frames charges against the accused prior to the beginning of the trial.

According to another counsel, the case is become stronger against the accused. Before his death, Prajapati had expressed his apprehension about an encounter killing - by Gujarat police - before his friends, who have already given statements to CBI. Now it can become a dying declaration as per law.

“The case has been become worse for the accused, as now the agency can consider Tulsi’s statement as dying declaration,” said IH Syed, a lawyer practising in Gujarat HC.

From the outset, the CBI has investigated the case on the line that Sohrabuddin and Tulsi murders were part of a single conspiracy. Recently, the agency got a report from a German laboratory that confirmed presence of human ash in the sand recovered from Illol village of Idar taluka, where Kausarbi was allegedly eliminated.

IPS officers DG Vanzara, Abhay Chudasama, Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh MN are accused in the Sohrabuddin case. Another IPS officer, Vipul Agrawal, is the key accused and - as per the charge sheet filed by the CBI - Amit Shah is the key conspirator in the Tulsi case. The agency has also named incumbent IPS officer Geetha Johri as well as former IPS officers PC Pande and OP Mathur in the Tulsi case.