The case came into prominence in 2012, when the CBI, in its chargesheet, listed Gujarat home minister and leading
BJP politician
Amit Shah as the "kingpin and prime accused" in the case. Amit Shah was arrested in October 2012. Earlier, an unprecedented total of 32 police officers Himanshu Singh Rajawat, Shyamsingh Charan, Ashish Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Kartar Singh, Narayansingh Chauhan, Jethasingh Solanki, Kanjibhai Kutchi, Vinodkumar Limbachiya Kiransingh Chauhan and Karansingh Sisodiya, Vijaykumar Rathod, including six
IPS officers including
D. G. Vanjara and
Rajkumar Pandian of Gujarat cadre and
Dinesh M.N. of Rajasthan cadre, had been arrested for the series of "encounter deaths". According to the
CBI, Prajapati was a witness to the encounter death of
Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005, and this was why he had to be eliminated. The encounter killing took place in
Banaskantha district. Vanzara, known to be close to Amit Shah and
Narendra Modi, the
Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time, had been transferred there as DIG Border range just 13 days earlier. Shah claimed that the transfer was an administrative move, not connected to the encounter. ==Possible involvement in Haren Pandya assassination==