Amit Shah doesn't want trial now, Pandian does

AHMEDABAD: The main accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, former minister of state for home Amit Shah does not seem to be ready to face trial at this stage. He requested the special CBI court not to commit the case for trial until the Supreme Court decides on CBI's plea to transfer the case outside Gujarat. Shah wasin jail for nearly three months last year before he was granted bail by theGujarat high court.On the other hand, suspended IPS officer and anaccused in this case, Rajkumar Pandian has been requesting the court to send thecase papers to the sessions court so that the trial could be expedited. Pandianhas been in jail for over four years now.Pandian's was one of thefirst arrests with DIG D G Vanzara, when DIG Rajnish Rai took them in custody onApril 24, 2007. Since then, Pandian, like all other cops arrested in 2007, hasmade various attempts in all courts including the Supreme Court to get bail, buthas failed. The high court rejected his bail applications twiceduring these years. Finally, he requested additional judicial magistrate A YDave to speed up the process of prosecution and commit the case to the court ofsessions for immediate trial.On the other hand, Shah on Thursdayfiled an application requesting the court not to commit the case till the CBI'sapplication to transfer the case outside Gujarat is not decided by SC.Interestingly the probe agency itself made a similar demand by way of filing apurshish on Tuesday. The magisterial court even agreed to adjourn the committalprocess for an indefinite period.With the filing of a similar pleaby an accused, the court has decided to hear CBI again before taking anydecision on this issue. This plea will next be heard on June 30.