Irani attacks Rahul Gandhi alleges supporting terrorist to demean Shah, Modi

The BJP on Tuesday described the Sohrabuddin Shaikh case as an example of the length to which the Congress will go to "destroy" its political opponents, and alleged it had used the CBI as part of a "conspiracy" to target Amit Shah when it was in power.

BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani hit out at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, alleging Shah, who was then a minister in the Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi, was harassed by the CBI at the behest of the Congress leadership as Modi and Shah were identified by it as main rivals.

She alleged that evidence was "manufactured" in an attempt to "destroy" Shah politically. She also accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of supporting a terrorist, a reference to his tweet on the verdict in Sohrabuddin Shaikh case that "nobody killed" him and he "just died". "On the orders of the Congress leadership, the CBI tried to frame Amit Shah as part of a political conspiracy.

"The court has admitted that these cases were imposed on Shah for political reasons. Not only in the Mumbai High Court but also in the Supreme Court, the Congress' conspiracy got defeated, " Irani told reporters.

All 22 accused in the alleged 20o5-2006 fake encounter killings of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsi Prajapati were acquitted on December 21 by a special CBI court in Mumbai because of insufficient evidence.

BJP president Amit Shah, who was the minister of state for home in Gujarat at that time, was also arrested briefly in 2010 in the case before being discharged in December 2014.

(With inputs from agencies.)