Not trading nuke bill for Modi, says Centre

''The government of India is not interfering (in the case),'' Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told the Lok Sabha, a day after the Left and other opposition parties cried foul when a parliamentary panel report on the controversial nuclear liability legislation was tabled in both houses of parliament.

The BJP was earlier opposed to the bill but has voiced its support after compensation in case of a nuclear accident at any plant was trebled to Rs.1,500 crore.

Bansal said that “none other than the apex court of the country, no authority other than the Supreme Court" was involved in the investigation in the alleged staged shootout case in 2005 in which Sohrabuddin Sheikh was gunned down and passed off as a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant.

Gujarat's former minister of state for home affairs Amit Shah has been arrested for his alleged involvement.

Opposition parties led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Wednesday alleged that Narendra Modi got a clean chit when the Congress required the BJP's support for the nuclear liability bill. The Left parties also alleged that the Congress and the BJP have traded off.

However, the minister assured the house that the government has never interfered and the probe was being conducted by the CBI under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has reportedly said there is no evidence against Modi in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.

"How can a minister of state do something without the senior minister knowing?" Lalu Prasad had said Wednesday, flashing a newspaper clipping on the CBI's clean chit to Modi.