Monitor Soharabuddin probe: US group to PM, CJI

An Indian American Muslim advocacy group on Monday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia to monitor and ensure an intimidation free Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the alleged fake encounter killings of Soharabuddin, his wife Kausarbi and his associate Prajapati allegedly at the hands of the Gujarat police.

The Indian Muslim Council-USA in a statement today alleged that in order to subvert and discredit this CBI inquiry, a massive advertising campaign has been launched in the Gujarati media by unknown entities to defame the CBI and dub it with various defamatory labels.

In separate letters sent prime minister and the CJI, IMC-USA president Rasheed Ahmed said, "The advertising campaign aims to create a political atmosphere where it would not be possible for the CBI to conduct a fair investigation. As such, this constitutes active interference in the judicial investigative process and may result in the subversion of justice."

Ahmed added that "A sincere investigation by the CBI into these fake encounter cases has, for the first time, the potential to implicate many powerful politicians within Narendra Modi's administration who have been involved in terrorising minorities in the state of Gujarat".

Calling for strong action to be taken against the people behind the anonymous entities running the advertising campaign, Ahmed dubbed it as a "tactic of subverting justice at the altar of manufactured public opinion".

He further added that "without basic security and rule of law, no level of economic progress either lasts or earns the nation a global leadership status it may otherwise deserve.

"The Indian Muslim Council-USA said that lawsuits against the Gujarat police related to the fake encounter killings have already landed 15 senior police officials behind bars and the Supreme Court ordered CBI inquiry has the potential to indict several prominent politicians and ministers in the Narendra Modi administration. The Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah, has reportedly gone into hiding fearing arrest by the CBI," it said.