CBI books Modi man,sets off BJP storm

The CBI chargesheet,which was filed in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate A Y Dave this evening,names 15 people. Three names have been added to those already arrested: Shah,Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank director Yashpal Chudasama (cousin of IPS officer Abhay Chudasama,already arrested in the case) and Ajay Patel,chairman of the ADC Bank. Names of three policemen named as accused earlier were dropped from the chargesheet for lack of evidence.

Those chargesheeted include a DIG,two SPs,two Dy SPs,three Inspectors,three SIs.

According to the chargesheet,one of the arrested IPS officers in the case,Narendra Amin,had recorded a conversation he had with another accused,N V Chauhan,in jail. The recorded conversation revealed that while Sohrabuddin and his wife were in illegal custody of Gujarat ATS,Vanzara was in constant touch over telephone with Amit Shah,and was continuously seeking instructions. The recordings revealed that instructions for killing of Kausar Bi were also given by Amit Shah to Vanzara, it claimed.

Shah and others have been charged under IPC section 120-B (conspiracy) read with 342 (wrongful confinement),364 (kidnapping and abducting in order to murder),365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person),368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement kidnapped or abducted person),384 (extortion),302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of valuable evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offenders).

The chargesheet has relied on statements of 249 witnesses,key among them builders Dashrath Patel,Raman Patel and Manilal Gosar.

According to the chargesheet,Shah,in a meeting with local builders who later turned witnesses in the case,had said Sohrabuddin had become a liability,that it was politically expedient to close all doors that would keep him alive.

IPS officers D G Vanzara and Abhay Chudasama,the chargesheet claimed,ran an extortion racket with Sohrabuddin but double-crossed him later at the behest of a marble lobby in Rajasthan which wanted him eliminated,through Shah.

With no case pending against him in Gujarat,Sohrabuddin was made to fire at a builder in Ahmedabad in 2004 so as to build a case. Later,his aide Tulsi Prajapati was used to track his movements.

The mystery of three occupants in the Qualis vehicle after Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were picked up has also been cleared. The CBI identified the third person as Tulsiram Prajapati who too was killed by the Gujarat police in an encounter later.

The CBI filed the chargesheet within the stipulated 90 days after effecting the arrest of Abhay Chudasama. The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to submit its report within six months from the date of handing over the case,which was in February.