Mumbai: All charges were dropped against BJP President Amit Shah by a court on Tuesday in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife and a witness.

In September 2013, the CBI had chargesheeted Shah and 18 others, including several senior police officers. Shah was charged with criminal conspiracy, offences under the Arms Act and destruction of key evidence.

According to CBI, Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were abducted by the Gujarat police's Anti-Terrorism Squad in November 2005 and killed in a staged encounter near Gandhinagar. Sohrabuddin is alleged to have demanded protection money from a businessman prior to his death.

Tulsiram Prajapati, an eyewitness to the fake encounter, was also killed by the police in another fake encounter at Chapri village in Banaskantha district of Gujarat in December 2006.

Taking into account the alleged threat to witnesses, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial of the case from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in 2012.