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A special court in Ahmedabad has rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) application seeking the custody of former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Shah will now be in judicial custody till Sunday. Earlier, the CBI opposed Shah's bail plea and requested the court to put Shah in its custody for five more days, as he has not cooperated during his judicial interrogation. Meanwhile, Shah''s defence lawyer Ram Jethmalani argued that the CBI has failed to question Shah when he surrendered and wants to ruin his political career. The CBI has charged Shah with murder, abduction, extortion and conspiracy in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. On July 23, it produced a 30,000-page chargesheet implicating Shah in the case. Shah was interrogated over three days in jail last week, but the CBI said he did not cooperate and has denied any involvement in the case. Most of Shah's replies according to the agency were evasive. "He has feigned ignorance and loss of memory and is getting away by saying that that `I do not know or I do not remember," sources said. The Supreme Court on January 12 has handed over the investigation of the case to the CBI asking it to place before it the report on the progress of the probe within six months by July 31. Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2005.

Sohrabuddin case: Court refuses to give CBI custody of Amit Shah