Ishrat case: CBI seeks legal opinion to prosecute IB officers

However, if the Law Ministry feels otherwise, the agency would go ahead with its supplementary charge sheet which is ready with all the corroborative evidence in place, they said.  

Meanwhile, on the question of any role by Shah in the matter, senior officials of the agency have made it clear that there was no legally tenable evidence on the basis of which he could be named as an accused in the charge sheet.

Sources said that Shah's name had surfaced after one of the main accused, DG Vanzara, claimed that the former minister had ditched him and other police officials who have been booked by CBI in various encounter cases.  

CBI had recently questioned Shah, the BJP general secretary and the party's in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, in connection with the Ishrat encounter case.

Sources said he was asked about the charges levelled by Vanzara in his resignation letter.

Sources said that Shah, who was the Gujarat Home Minister in 2004, when the encounter took place, was quizzed after jailed IPS officer Vanzara claimed in his resignation letter that Gujarat government was “inspiring, guiding and monitoring” every police action from “very close quarters”.