Click to play videoNew Delhi: Ahmedabad-based builders Raman Patel and Dashrat Patel, who are known to Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, allege that they were asked by the arrested ATS chief and IPS officer DG Vanzara to make statements on the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case.
CNN-IBN has accessed the Patel brothers' statements to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which were recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC before a magistrate, to ensure there were no allegations of pressure.
The CBI report refers to a meeting between the Patel brothers and Amit Shah in which the brothers state that when the conversation came to Sohrabuddin encounter, Shah stated that 'Sohrabuddin had himself foreclosed upon keeping himself alive' and that the brothers would not appreciate 'the needs of political equations'.
But why would a Minister like Amit Shah, comment on such a controversial case before two builders? The answer lies in how close the two brothers were to Amit Shah. Raman and Dashrat Patel have already testified to paying Rs 70 lakh to Amit Shah through Ajay Patel in 2005 as protection money. Ajay Patel was also questioned by the CBI.
The Patel brothers have a controversial past, with some FIRs against them as well that also brought them in contact with Vanzara. The brothers were arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch when Vanzara was the DCP.
They were allegedly booked for not sharing information about a shooting incident at their own office. When Vanzara became DIG and went to the ATS, the case was also transferred to the ATS. Around the time of the Sohrabuddin encounter, the Patel brothers were called by the ATS to make a statement possibly tailored by Vanzara. They apparently refused.
What statement Vanzara wanted Raman and Dashrat Patel to make before the ATS is still being investigated. But what is clear is that the Patels were quite familiar not just with Amit Shah but also to some of those who were close to the Gujarat Minister.
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