Amit Shah wants to return to Gujarat, misses family's 'warmth and affection'

New Delhi: Amit Shah, who was forced to quit as Gujarat's Home Minister because of alleged links to a fake encounter, has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to enter Gujarat and stay with his family there.  He says he is being deprived of their "warmth and affection."

Mr Shah was arrested in July 2010 on charges that include murder, kidnapping and extortion. Known to have a close personal relationship with Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Shah resigned a few days before he was arrested for the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife, Kauser Bi. 

In October 2010, he was granted bail. When the CBI asked the Supreme Court to cancel his bail, Mr Shah was ordered by the Supreme Court to stay away from his home state to prevent him from being able to influence witnesses. 
In his application to the Supreme Court today, he has said that because he is absent from Gujarat, he "is deprived of serving the voters" in his constituency of Sarkhej. He also says he cannot fulfill his duties as the Vice President of the Gujarat Cricket Association.

Mr Shah's party, the BJP, has described the CBI investigation against him as a case of political vendetta, aimed at embarrassing Mr Modi. The CBI was assigned to the case in January 2010 by the Supreme Court. 

Mr Sheikh, a petty criminal, was killed in an encounter in 2005 by the Gujarat police. At the time, officers claimed that nearly 40 AK-47s had been found at his home, and that he was a terrorist. Lawyers for the government later admitted in the Gujarat High Court that the chase that ended with Mr Sheikh's death had been staged. Along with his wife, he had been kidnapped from a bus as they travelled from Hyderabad to Maharashtra. Kauser Bi was killed after her husband. Her body was set on fire so that it would not be identified.

Mr Shah is accused of commissioning Mr Sheikh's death because of pressure from the powerful marble traders lobby in Rajasthan. Mr Sheikh had reportedly been trying to extort money from some of them.  They then allegedly approached Mr Shah for help.