Andhra cops not involved in Sohrabuddin case: Cong

The main issue was that the Gujarat Police, with the active connivance and support of the state government, had carried out the fake encounter. 8220;Without state support, nothing could have happened,8221; Singhvi said, pointing out that after Sheikh was killed his wife was taken to the farmhouse of a BJP corporator where she was first raped and then killed. About 30-40 kg of wood could not have been carted in trucks through the streets of the state capital without the state government8217;s knowledge and assistance, he said.

Asserting that the Modi government had reduced Gujarat to 8220;a lawless state8221;, the Congress also took the opportunity to take a swipe at the BJP8217;s renewed leadership controversy. Referring to Gujarat BJP MP Babubhai Katara8217;s arrest in the human trafficking case followed by the revelations on the fake encounters, Singhvi said: 8220;No wonder the patriarch of the party Atal Behari Vajpayee wants to run away from politics. Even he cannot stand the succession of scandals or perhaps he is upset by the fact that Rajnath Singh has talked of Advani as the party8217;s choice for prime minister.8221;

On the Gujarat Police8217;s claim that Sheikh had been a criminal, Singhvi said: 8220;This is another diversionary tactic. You pick up a person, kill him, rape his wife and burn her body. Are we a banana republic?8221; On the spate of encounter killings of alleged terrorists in Gujarat, the Congress spokesperson said: 8220;Every time a person has to be liquidated, Modi8217;s life is in extreme danger. It8217;s curious that plans to kill Modi were found on the person of every slain 8220;terrorist8221;8230; We are not babes in the wood, we cannot be taken in by every story planted by them.8221;

Asked why the Centre had not intervened to stop the fake encounters earlier, he said: 8220;Whenever facts surface, we can take action.8221; Although there had been suspicions about the nature of encounter killings in Gujarat, action could not be taken without adequate evidence, which has now been established at least in the case of the Sheikh and Kausar Bi murders, he said.

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