Vehemently opposing the grant of bail to Gujarat police officer N K Amin and Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Dinesh M N, accused in the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the subsequent killing of his wife Kausar Bi, the Gujarat Government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the investigation into the twin murder is still pending and is at a crucial stage.Responding to an appeal filed by Amin and others, where they have challenged the cancellation of their bail by the Gujarat High Court, the state Government submitted that “no hard and fast rule can be laid down for grant of bail.”“The high court, while considering the seriousness and gravity of the offence in its entirety, rightly cancelled the bail,” it said, refering to the judgment dated January 25, 2008, where the regular bail granted to N K Amin was cancelled. Amin was granted bail by the Sessions court on October 5, 2007.D H Trivedi, Inspector, Gujarat police, who filed an affidavit on behalf of the state Government, apprehended that the “petitioner (Amin) is a high ranking officer and if enlarged on bail, there is all likelihood of him influencing the witnesses and tampering with evidence.” The affidavit, filed by Modi Government last week, came up before a Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat on Monday, which then posted the matter for further directions on March 26. Earlier, Amin was granted anticipatory bail in June 2007, which was later cancelled by the apex court in August, 2007, pursuant to which he was arrested on August 26, 2007.Pointing out that the high court rightly noted the presence of Amin at the cremation of Kausar Bi, just few days after Sohrabuddin was killed in an alleged fake encounter, the Gujarat government submitted that investigations is still pending “with regard to where and how Kausar Bi was murdered.”Also, narco-analysis tests of all the 13 accused in the fake encounter killing are pending, it said. Enlarging the accused on bail depends upon the nature of the offence. “The more heinous a crime, greater the chance for rejection of bail,” it said.While Amin was initially accused of destruction of evidence relating to the death of Kausar Bi, Dinesh, SP, Udaipur was accused of being involved in conspiracy to murder Sohrabuddin.However, later both the police officers were charged for murder under Section 302 besides under other sections like 193, 201 and 120 B of Indian Penal Code.While opposing the grant of bail, the government also brushed aside claims like the police personnel had a meritorious past record. “Antecedents of Sohrabuddin and meritorious record of petitioners are irrelevant,” the affidavit stated.
