By IANS,
New Delhi : Welcoming the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) decision to summon a Gujarat minister over the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake shootout, his brother Rubabuddin Thursday said the probe is headed in the right direction.
“We are hopeful to get justice as the CBI investigations are headed in right direction. I am in constant touch with CBI officials and lets see what happens in the case,” Rubabuddin told IANS over phone from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Amit Shah has been accused of calling up policemen involved in the killing of Sheikh, who police claimed was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. The CBI collected the phone records of the minister to prove his role in the execution of the staged killing, sources said.
A CBI source said Shah’s arrest was only a “matter of time”.
“Tusli Prajapati in his statement to the Gujarat CID (criminal investigation department) had told about the involvement of Shah in my brother’s murder. But they did not pay heed to it,” Rubabuddin said.
Prajapati was considered to be a key witness in Sohrabuddin fake shootout case. He was also killed in a shooutout in Gujarat in December 2006.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been accused of killing Sheikh in a staged shootout Nov 26, 2005, in Ahmedabad. His wife Kauserbi has been missing ever since.
On Jan 12 this year, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to register a case against policemen from Gujarat and Rajasthan involved in Sheikh’s killing. A case was registered Feb 1.
An Indian Police Service officer, Abhay Chudasama, was arrested soon after the CBI took over the case. Chudasama, the 15th policeman to be arrested in the case was posted as deputy commissioner of police in Ahmedabad at the time of his arrest and was earlier a member of the state ATS.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Rubabuddin stated that the victim and his wife were picked up by an ATS team and the Rajasthan Special Task Force Nov 25, 2005, while the couple was going to Nashik from Hyderabad.
On Nov 28, 2005, the ATS and the STF claimed that Sohrabuddin was killed in a shootout near Ahmedabad.
Police claimed he had come to Ahmedabad with the intention of targeting senior political leaders and to engage in subversive activities.