Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary in-charge of Gujarat Om Mathur has denied his involvement in the fake encounter in which three top cops have been accused.
Late in 2005, the Gujarat police gunned down Shorabbudin, a man they passed off as a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist who had plotted to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
"This is all nonsense. These are baseless allegations by the Congress leaders of Gujarat and Rajasthan. I deny the allegation as baseless, frivolous and unfounded," Mathur told rediff.com on phone from Rajasthan.
He also denied any links with the marble lobby of Rajasthan. "I have no links with them whatsoever," he said.
But the sources within the BJP admit that Mathur had been patronising the marble lobby from the state and had supported their cause on a number of occasions.
According to the investigations conducted by the Gujarat police at the directive of the Supreme Court, the name of Mathur had been allegedly figuring from day one but because of lack of substantial proof no action could be taken against him.
Leading newspapers in Rajasthan have run stories how Rs 2 crore were paid to DIG Vanzara to eliminate Shorabbudin who had become a head-ache for a marble dealer and had been extorting money from them from time to time.
