Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may well have raised a toast in Korea where he has flown with a business delegation to promote investments in the state in the wake of the Supreme Court decision not to entrust investigation into the fake encounter case with the CBI.
He may have attempted to show his nonchalance in the case by presenting a brave front, but the Supreme Court showed no confidence in the Gujarat government and its top police officer DGP P C Pande.The court stopped short of a CBI investigation, but its decision to monitor the case directly and its direction to DIG Geetha Johri to bypass the state and DGP and directly deliver the action taken report may prove to be disconcerting for the state government.
According to police sources, what the government may find more disturbing is the Supreme Court’s order to Ms Johri to find the motive behind the fake encounter.
“The court has in a way asked that if Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed in a fake encounter and was not a terrorist, why was he killed in the first place and why were his wife Kausar Bi and eyewitness Tulsiram Prajapati eliminated. The answer to these questions will spill the beans on the police and state machinery,” a police official said.

Decision welcomed
Meanwhile, the BJP as well as the Congress welcomed the Supreme Court decision. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil claimed that the decision was a stinging slap on the face of the BJP government and DGP P C Pande.