India's Modi aide acquitted of triple murder charges
Shah, the closest aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was cleared of ordering police to carry out the extrajudicial killings of a gangster -- Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife and his friend -- when he served as home minister under Modi in the state of Gujarat almost a decade ago, Shah's lawyer, Mitesh Amin, said.
Amin said Shah was acquitted due to lack of evidence and the judge would give a more detailed explanation after a recess.
Shah was promoted to president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in July as he awaited his trial, two months after helping Modi deliver India's biggest election victory since 1984.
Party workers praise Shah as an efficient administrator, whose sharp political mind has helped him win nearly every election he has overseen in the last three decades.
Rubabuddin Sheikh, the brother of one of the victims, said his family would challenge the ruling.
"Amit Shah has wrongly been protected and we will challenge the court's order in the high court," Sheikh said.
India's top law enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had accused Shah of running an extortion racket with police officers and Sheikh while holding the top law-and-order position in Gujarat.
Shah and Sheikh fell out and police snatched Sheikh from a bus with his wife in 2005, the CBI said in a charge sheet.
Sheikh was killed in a staged gun battle and his wife's cremated body was later found in the village of one of the policemen, the CBI report said.
Phone records show Shah had multiple calls with the accused officers during the operation and was "pivotal" to the conspiracy, the police said in the report.
A year later, a friend of the couple who witnessed the abduction was killed in a shootout with police.
The Gujarat government later admitted all three murders were staged, according to court documents.
Police officers remain on trial for the killings.
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1734878987-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(67)1734878987-0-270x192.webp "at least 38 dead over 100 missing after ferry capsizes in dr congo")
indian courts cannot be trusted. If case of hanging of Afzal Guru and one judge who differed from verdict of babri mosque incident brought to international courts, every one will know about mentality of Hindu. That was why Pakistan was created.
@Gp65: When Modi the killer of thousands of Muslims can become the PM then this is nothing. Slowly all the charges from modi were also dropped because he kept on buying judges. Ask any sane indian and he will tell you what level of corruption happened this elections.
still Pakistanis are so naive NOT to think at a global perspective.
Please allow response to someone who has written to me.
@Waleed Khan: Even if accept this naive narrative that only civilians left and only terrorists and their families remained behind, the army says over thousand people were killed. So would that not be target killing of a thousand terrorists and families in a 6 month period? Compare that to target killing of 18 people in 5 years under an anti-terrorism law. No civilian property was destroyed in the targetted action as compared to civilian homes being flattened in FATA. Also families of terrorists were not touched unlike in FATA where they are part of collateral damage. Finally just because government says, you believe that no civilians had remained behind. There must be people with very young children, pregnant women, very old and sick people who were not mobile enough to make the journey out of NWA and are part of the bombing. None of that happened either. Under Amit Shah's watch as home minister of 8 years - there was not even a single curfew in a single village for a single day.
@Gp65:
You call it a blanket bombing? My friend, NWA is completely evacuated. There are only Taliban insurgents left. There are no civilians left in any of the areas being targeted (that's why they're called IDPs). It's not the fact that Modi was chief minister of Gujarat when these murders happened, it's the fact that he did nothing about them. No permanent arrests were made. Hafiz Saeed may be a terrorist in India, but he has actually done some humanitarian work during the recent floods by donating food and money to the victims. Just because Arnab Goswami and India call him a terrorist doesn't mean that he is one. Tomorrow the Pakistani government can call the Dalai Lama a terrorist, it doesn't mean he is one.
But Of Course! Who would be brave enough & in his/her right mind to bring evidence against city's bullies... who now are extremely powerful by running the government. I knew nothing will come out of this case for the victims and their families. In a People's Court by virtue of his track record, threat & coercion tactic used elsewhere, involvement in numerous other crimes, he must have done that! Never mind, God is watching He will make him pay in another way Heavily! The silenced victim's voice is only heard Up There in His court!
@Pity: Do you know what the basis of the accusation was? That he was the home minister when Sohrabuddin Shaikh was killed n an encounter killing under an encounter policy deeloped by the center which was run by BJP's political opponents. Please note this is not colateral damage where a terrorists family is impacted. This is directly taking a known terrorist out. It should also be noted that the state with the LEAST number of encounter killings was Gujarat and yet only encounters in Gujarat under a central law were investigated by a highly politicised Congress.
If Shah were to be found guilty of this thn Raheel Sharif would be guilty of thousands of murders by ordering blanket bombing of NWA. No comparison with Hafiz Saeed who was instrumental in killing 162 innocent Indians.
and they blame Pakistani courts for releasing Hafiz Saeed. Pity man!