New Delhi, Apr 8 (IANS): In major breather for BJP general secretary and former home minister of Gujarat Amit Shah, the Supreme Court Monday quashed the first information report filed against him by the CBI in the Tulsiram Prajapati staged shootout case.

The court said the chargesheet filed in pursuance to this FIR would be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case, which is being tried in Mumbai.

Quashing the FIR, an apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan said that it was CBI's own case that the killing of Tulsiram Prajapati was a part of the same transaction involving a series of killings after the abduction of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi.

The court said that it had to balance the fundamental rights of a person accused of an offence and the sweeping powers of the police to investigate.

"We are of the view that the filing of the second FIR was violative of Article 14, 20 and 21 of the constitution," Justice Sathasivam said, pronouncing the judgment.

The case relates to the alleged killing in November 2005 by Gujarat Police of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who according to police was involved in arms smuggling and plotting terrorist attacks. Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi were abducted from a bus while on their way from Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh to Sangli in Maharashtra, and allegedly killed.

A year later, on Dec 26, 2006, Sheikh's associate Tulsiram Prajapati, who had also been a witness to the killing of Sheikh and his wife, was allegedly killed by the police in a shootout.