Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up

by Rana Ayyub

But what’s with this Amit Shah thing. Also I hear about your officers... I mean there is some kind of officer-political group especially vis a vis encounters. I got this feeling as I got to meet a lot of other ministers. A) See, even the CM. All the ministeries that are there and the ministers. They are rubber stamps. All decisions are taken by the CM. Whatever decisions all the ministers make, they have to take his permission. Q) How does he manage to remain unscathed then, including your case, why has he not been indicted in the same case? A) Because he does not come [as in, appear] in the picture directly. He gives orders to bureaucrats. Q) By the same benchmark, if Amit Shah was arrested in your case, then the CM should also have been arrested? A) Yes. In 2007, just after the officers were arrested for the Sohrabuddin encounters, Sonia Gandhi was here and she called the officers Maut Ke Saudagar. After that Modi, went out shouting at every meeting ‘Maut ke saudagar? Sohrabuddin kaun tha, usko maara toh achcha hua ke nahi hua?’ And after that he got a thumping majority. See, he got what he wanted. Q) And the officers through which he got it done, he is not helping them now? A) Nahi, they are all in jail. Q) Did he ever question you about your encounters? A) No, he never [did], dekho inko sabka benefit lena hota hai, riots hue muslims ko maara, benefit liya, ispar bhi kiya. Q) But will your Shah Saheb now come back to the Home department? A) No, he won’t be able ...