However, the court also imposed some conditions on Shah: a) he should cooperate in the police inquiry; b) should not leave Ahmedabad city area without the permission of the court; c) if he has a passport, he should deposit it with the inquiry officer; d) he should not tamper with evidence; and e) should not bring pressure to bear on the police, either directly or indirectly. In his application, the 60-year-old Shah, who underwent bypass surgery three months back, said he had been a journalist for the past 40 years. He said he had not been directly named in the case but was a witness. Therefore, he should be protected from the police till true facts come out in the open, he pleaded.

He said a news report was published in `Sandesh' newspaper on August 31, 1998 about the Kadi Highway robbery case which took place in the same month under Adalaj police jurisdiction, Gandhinagar district. He said the report had mentioned the failure of police investigation in that case.

Shah alleged that since then Gandhinagar DSP R S Yadav held a grudge against him. Therefore, Yadav was summoning him daily to the police station at sector 21, Gandhinagar, and threatening him that if he did not write on papers as said then he (Yadav) would destroy him, he said.