New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) Gujarat Minister Amit Shah, allegedly involved in the 2005 staged shootout of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has resigned, Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced here Saturday while accusing the Congress-led UPA government of ‘misusing’ the CBI and ‘fabricating’ the charges against Shah.
‘Amit Shah has sent his resignation to my bungalow. I will complete the formalities after returning from here. I accept his resignation,’ Modi told reporters here.
Modi, who arrived in the national capital Saturday morning, announced he has accepted Shah’s resignation, adding that Shah was innocent.
‘As per provisions of the constitution, I have accepted his resignation,’ he said.
He alleged that the charges against Shah were part of the Congress-led central government’s ‘conspiracy’ against Gujarat.
‘It is an example of a conspiracy to trouble the development of Gujarat. Amit Shah is totally innocent. The allegations are fabricated and politicised,’ the chief minister said.
Modi said getting the CBI involved in the case was a reaction from a ‘failed’ central government.
‘When the people of India expressed their anger and warned the government in Delhi against price rise in the form of a massive bandh, the Congress-led central government which has failed on all fronts completely politicised the CBI, and misusing it they are trying to create obstacles in the way of Gujarat’s journey to development’ Modi said.
He added that the due legal course will be followed by Shah.
‘Amit Shah will respect the legal system of the country. And I believe the Indian law will give him justice,’ said Modi, who is considered close to Shah.
The CBI mounted a massive search for Shah after naming him an accused with 17 others in the killing of Sheikh, in a chargesheet filed Friday.
Shah has been missing after a court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. He failed to appear before the court after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned him.
Friday’s chargesheet named 18 people, of who only three are yet to be arrested – Shah, Ajay Patel and Yashpal Chudasama. Both Patel and Chudasama are reportedly close to the minister.
All the 15 who are in jail are police personnel. The charges against them include murder, abduction and conspiracy.
They include three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers — D.G. Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandey and Dinesh M.N.
The high-profile case relates to Rajasthan resident Sheikh, who was killed in a Nov 26, 2005 alleged gun battle with police. Police accused him of being a Lashkar-e-Taiba activist. They claimed he had come to Ahmedabad to target senior political leaders. His wife Kausar Bi went missing later.
The dead man’s family alleged that Sheikh and his wife were abducted from a bus and then killed in cold blood near Ahmedabad.
–Indo Asian news Service
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