Amit Shah cleared of Vanzara allegation

Official sources said the supplementary charge sheet is likely to carry details of Intelligence Bureau officials who were allegedly part of the conspiracy leading to the alleged fake encounter in which 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan along with three others were killed.

The sources said the name of Shah, BJP general secretary and UP in-charge, surfaced after one of the main accused, jailed IPS officer D G Vanzara, claimed that the minister had ditched him and other police officials who have been booked by the CBI in various encounter cases. The CBI has recently questioned Shah in connection with the Ishrat encounter case. The sources said he was questioned with regard to allegations levelled by Vanzara in his resignation letter.

The sources said Shah, who was home minister of Gujarat in 2004 when the encounter took place, was quizzed as Vanzara had claimed in his resignation letter that the Gujarat government was ‘inspiring, guiding and monitoring’ every police action from ‘very close quarters’.

However, the sources said so far the CBI has not managed to gather enough evidence to prove his direct involvement in the encounter or the conspiracy which led to it. 

They said Vanzara, during his questioning by the CBI in Sabarmati Jail, had reiterated the stand taken by him in the resignation letter that police officials accused in various encounter cases were merely implementing ‘conscious policy’ of the state government towards terrorism.