Gujarat minister headed extortion gang, CBI tells apex court

New Delhi, March 9: Even as the CBI told the Supreme Court today that former Gujarat minister Amit Shah was heading an extortion racket having politician-police-criminal nexus, his counsel Ram Jethmalani said this was an attempt to target Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government. "Amit Shah was the head of the extortion racket involving politicians, police and criminals," the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan. Taking umbrage to Shah being described as the head of an extortion gang, senior counsel Jethmalani said: "It hurts my client (Amit Shah). He is democratically elected." Jethmalani said that the targeting of Shah was part of a conspiracy between the CBI and politicians. "The conspiracy came into existence between the CBI and certain politicians and the target is the democratically elected government of Gujarat which is the thorn in the flesh of the centre. The idea was first to get the home minister Amit Shah and then reach for Chief Minister Modi." (IANS)