Ahmedabad- The owners of Popular Builders paid Rs 70 lakh to former Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah to avoid being booked under Prevention of Anti- Social Activities Act, said the chargesheet filed by CBI in Sohrabuddin fake encounter killing case.
In December 2004, Gujarat police had stage managed a shoot-out at the office of Popular Builders owned by Raman Patel and Dashrat Patel, using close aides of Sohrabuddin with the purpose of lodging FIR against Sohrabuddin in Gujarat, the chargesheet said.
The firing was done under the pretext of a dispute between one Manilal Goshar and the Patel brothers, it added.
The chargesheet says that after Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26, 2005, the Patel brothers were arrested by another accused in the case D G Vanzara, then DIG ATS, at the instance of Shah.
"Rs 60 lakh was extorted from them (Patel brothers) by Vanzara by threatening them and their family with dire consequences," the chargesheet said.
'Further, Amit Shah caused threats of preventive detention under the Prevention of Anti Social Activities Act (PASA) and demanded Rs 90 lakh from the two brothers through his close associate Ajay Patel (an absconding accused) who is the Chairman of ADC bank," it said.
"In the bargain, the Patel brothers paid Rs 70 lakh in three instalments to Shah through Patel in May 2006," it added.
After receipt of money, the said proposal under PASA was not pursued," the chargesheet said.
The Gujarat police had made owners of the Popular Builders as the accused in the case of firing apart from Tulsi Prajapati and Sylvestor, associates of Sohrabuddin, who had actually opened fire in the builder's office, it said.
"The motive of implicating them was merely to extort money from both the Patel brothers at the behest of Shah, Vanzara and Chudasama and to create criminal background of Sohrabuddin in Gujarat for likely future action against him," the chargesheet said.
"Investigation disclosed that such type of modus operandi was used by the political functionaries in connivance with the police officers in Gujarat state against criminals and their gang," it added.
The case against the Patel brothers was initially registered at Navrangpura police station but was then transferred to the Ahmedabad crime branch because Vanzara was the SP there. Later, when Vanzara was transferred to ATS, he got the case transferred to ATS.
"In a nutshell, the case file travelled along with Vanzara wherever he was posted for reasons best known to him," the chargesheet said. PTI
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