The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday sought the custody of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
Shah was arrested by the CBI on July 25, after he was named as an accused in the chargesheet filed in the case.
The special CBI court had then allowed the agency to question the former minister of state for home from July 28 to 30. The nearly five-year-old case also involves the killing of Sheikh's wife Kausar Bi allegedly by the Gujarat police.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer K T S Tulsi, representing the investigating agency in the special CBI court of Judicial Magistrate A Y Dave, demanded five-day remand of Shah, giving reasons for it in a sealed cover.
"We did not seek remand earlier because it was expected that Shah would recognise his obligation to assist the CBI in the case. But it has not happened," Tulsi said.
The agency's step to seek the custody of Shah comes after his three-day interrogation by the agency in the Sabarmati jail where he reportedly did not cooperate with the investigations. Shah is represented by senior Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
The hearing in the case is going on at present in the court. Shah, a former minister of state for home, is a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah has been booked by the CBI for murder, kidnapping, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy, among other charges. The chargesheet in the case was filed on July 23. According to the chargesheet, police officials of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad and the Rajasthan Special Task Force had stage managed the encounter of Sheikh, a suspected gangster, near Ahmedabad.
