Congress, AAP, Left question CBI's role in discharge of Amit Shah in Sohrabuddin case

NEW DELHI: Congress, Left and AAP have slammed the discharge of Amit Shah in Sohrabuddin encounter case, raising even question marks over CBI.

Congress questioned the CBI's "strange and worrisome" role, saying the agency had kept away vital testimonies from court and followed the diktats of the Centre. While the Aam Aadmi Party also charged the Narendra Modi government of "direct and open interference" in the functioning of the CBI, CPM's Sitaram Yechury said Amit Shah's acquittal can be called the "real fake encounter since acquittal has taken place despite all the evidence".

AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "There are many questions to answer, serious questions... . And most importantly there was statement under Section 164 CrpC before the magistrate. None of this was projected by the CBI counsel during the 15-minute submission before the Mumbai court. There are serious questions for the CBI to answer. There are serious questions to the central government, which seems to have become the master of the caged parrot all over again."

The senior lawyer asked why had the CBI counsel argued "only for 15 minutes" as against the three-day arguments of defence counsel. At the same time, he asked why were the special CBI judge, special public prosecutor and investigating officers of the agency "changed".

Former IPS officer and AICC spokesman Ajoy Kumar wondered how had the evidence that led to Amit Shah's arrest and externment from Gujarat turned into insufficient evidence over months, casting aspersions on the agency's role.

In a statement, the Aam Aadmi Party said CBI had gone from describing Shah as a "lynchpin" of the conspiracy to effecting a complete U-turn. "A wishy-washy approach against Shah leads to suspicion of an insidious conspiracy between the government and CBI to let Shah off the hook," the party said.

In a similar vein, CPM politburo member Yechury said since CBI works directly under the PMO there is strong chance of the premier investigating agency getting influenced by it.

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