Gujarat's minister of state for home Amit Shah has finally stepped down as the CBI has slapped the murder charge on him in connection with the 'fake encounter' of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and friend Tulsi Prajapati in November 2005.

Modi has maintained that his trusted aide is innocent and accused the Congress of using the CBI to target its political rivals. The BJP terms the whole affair a witch hunt. After all, encounters – of innocents and Maoists, of dacoits and gangsters – are not unusual these days, so why make an exception of this one incident and even go after a person no less than the junior home minister of a state? The investigative agency too has a dubious track record of acting hand in glove for the ruling party at the centre.

On the other hand, there are counterarguments: Killing Sohrabuddin, a small-time extortion agent, and terming him a terrorist out to kill Modi was not a petty crime: it was used to conjure up the bogey of 'Islamic fundamentalists' out to kill Modi and there have been a series of similar fake encounters in Gujarat before. Moreover, it was the very CID of Gujarat itself that admitted the crime (and it was a crime) before the Supreme Court, which ordered the CBI to probe – thus, the Congress did not have any role in the affair (even if it wished to, it could not have).
So, is what is happening in Gujarat a case of politicisation of CBI or is it a case of politicisation of a crime? Is it that the Supreme Court is seeking the truth to deliver justice or is it that the Congress is targeting Modi?