Gujarat Ex-Minister Amit Shah gets bail in Sohrabuddin case

The Gujarat High Court on Friday granted bail to former State minister Amit Shah, over three months after he was arrested by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Justice R.H. Shukla granted bail to Mr. Shah on a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh and a condition that he will have to appear before the CBI’s Mumbai office every month as the case is registered there. The court also rejected the demand of the CBI to grant three weeks stay on the bail order as the agency would like to appeal against the verdict. The plea was made by CBI counsel Yogesh Ravani.
Mr. Shah’s lawyer Nirupam Nanavati assured the court that his client would comply with all the terms and conditions of the bail and also any additional terms which the CBI would like to impose. He was arrested by the CBI on July 25 and he has spent over three months in the Sabarmati jail here. Mr. Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been described by the CBI as the “kingpin” of the conspiracy leading to the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005 and killing of two key witnesses, Soharabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi and his close aide Tulsiram Prajapati.