Court junks plea against Shah, ex-DGP

A CBI special court on Thursday dismissed the application seeking arraignment of BJP general secretary Amit Shah and former DGP K R Kaushik in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

While rejecting the application by Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh alias Javed Sheikh, who was also killed in the encounter, CBI sessions judge Gita Gopi said the supplementary chargesheet is pending before a magisterial court. Unless the chargesheet comes before her, the case can’t be taken as a whole.

Besides, the statements of witnesses can’t be taken as evidence at this stage. It will be taken into consideration during the trial. The court also observed that a petition has been pending before the SC wherein statements taken by CBI have been challenged and the matter is sub judice.

Shah’s lawyer Mitesh Amin said the court observed in its order that the petition filed in the Supreme Court by accused DSP N K Amin has been pending.