FILE photo: BJP president Amit Shah
A court in Mumbai is expected to decide today whether to drop all charges against BJP President Amit Shah in the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a small-time criminal, his wife and a witness.
If the special court of the CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation accepts Mr Shah's discharge application, he will not have to face trial in the case.
The case was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai in 2012.
In September 2013, the CBI had charge-sheeted Mr Shah - the former Home Minister of Gujarat - and 18 others, including several police officers. Mr Shah was charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and offences under the Arms Act.
According to the CBI, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi were kidnapped by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad in November 2005 and killed in a fake encounter. The Gujarat police had claimed Sohrabuddin had links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and planned to assassinate important political leaders.
A year later in December 2006, Tulsiram Prajapati, a witness to the encounter, was killed by the Gujarat police, who claimed he had been trying to escape from custody.
The CBI alleges that Mr Shah, who was Gujarat's home minister at the time, was involved in both killings as the police reported to him.
Mr Shah, who was in the Gujarat cabinet led by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, stepped down in 2010 after he was arrested in the case. He got bail three months later.