Never in his wildest dreams did IGP D.G.Vanzara ever think that some day he would be encountering the CBI. Between 2002 to April 2007, he was the de-facto Police Chief of the Gujarat State and no senior police officer would dare cross his path knowing his proximity with the Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi. First, as the Chief of the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad and later as the Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, he built up the dreaded team of encounter specialists. He and his team carried out seven “successful” encounters killing around 15 “dreaded terrorists” between 2002 and 2006. In most of the FIRs that were registered after the encounters, one allegation was common; that the persons killed in the encounters were dreaded terrorists connected with either LeT or Hizbul or Doud Ibrahim etc and that they had come to assassinate the Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi!
Sohrabuddin Sheikh was shot and killed in the encounter of 26th November, 2005 and his wife Kauserbi was injected with Pentothal and apparently burnt in the ilol, the village of Vanzara. Her body was never found. A letter from Rubabuddin, the brother of Sohrabuddin to the Chief Justice of India led to a preliminary enquiry by the CID and later to the filing of the writ petition before the Apex Court. After notice was issued by Supreme Court, the investigation was handed over to DIG Rajnish Rai who did the unbelievable; he arrested D.G.Vanzara in April 2007 alongwith two other IPS officeres, namely Shri Dinesh M.N. from Rajasthan and Rajkumar Pandyan from Gujarat cadre. The arrests of the top Police officer close to the powers shook the foundations at Gandhinagar and Rajnish Rai was removed and the investigation was transferred to IGP Gita Johri.
Few more policemen were arrested, notable amongst them was Dy.SP Shri Narendra Amin, who was accused of murdering Kauserbi. The investigations carried out by Johri revealed that Sohrabuddin, Kauserbi and another person were kidnapped from a bus by the Gujarat Police when these persons were traveling from Hyderabad to Sangli. The third person, who was later identified as Tulsi Prajapati was also killed in another encounter by the same team in December, 2006 near Ambaji. The investigation thereafter started faltering and on behalf of Rubabuddin, the demand for handing over the investigation to CBI was renewed. Ultimately, on 12th of January, 2010, the Apex Court passed its final Judgment and Order directing the investigation to be handed over to CBI.
The handing over of the investigation of the fake encounter case to CBI can now bring out the required evidence to indict not just some more police higher-ups but also their political masters. It would have been practically impossible for any Police Officer of the Gujarat cadre to dare to look for any evidence that may implicate any of their political bosses but that hurdle is now removed. The manner in which seven “encounters” have been carried in Ahmedabad without the Government not even bothering to institute a single serious inquiry into the genuineness of any of them, raises serious question about the bonafides of the Government. It is difficult to believe that the Government would remain totally aloof despite knowing that in every FIR, the police was alleging that the dead persons had plans to kill the Chief Minister!
The investigation by CBI would help in the investigation from yet another angle. In most of the “encounters” Policemen from more than one State are involved. In the Sohrabuddin case, the Rajasthan Police, Gujarat Police, Maharashtra Police and the Andhra Police are involved. Having a Central agency investigating into the crime would facilitate search for the evidence in the different States and bring out the nexus between the Police of the different States in creating the bogey of “terrorism” to satisfy the political needs of parties.
In the Sohrabuddin case itself, the last encounter in December, 2006, that killed Tulsi Parajapati near Ambaji close to the Rajasthan borders was a clear joint operation on the part of the Rajasthan and Gujarat Police. Tulsi, who was an accused in another criminal case registered in Gujarat was reportedly brought to Ahmedabad under the guise of producing him before the Ahmedabad Court and while taking him back to Rajasthan where he was lodged in the Udaipur jail, he was apparently shot and killed as he was allegedly escaping from the police custody in the train. An investigation has revealed that at that time Dinesh M.N. IPS was the SP of Udaipur (now under arrest for killing Sohrabuddin) and the two Policemen who accompanied Tulsi to Ahmedabad were working under him and specially assigned to travel with Tulsi! The Gujarat police ofcourse found him near the Rajasthan border and killed him in self defense! In such inter State conspiracy, CBI alone can be efficacious.
Now that the majesty of law has once again been established by the Apex Court, the country will have high expectation of the capability and impartiality of CBI. Since last seven years, numerous allegations have been flying around the Narendra Modi Government but no one has pinned a single allegation to make it stick. Either they are wholly innocent or they are too smart to catch. We have to now wait and see what the CBI can do.
(English)
Why forget that the Gujarat Government has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court admitting that it was the fake encounter…Now sheilding will cost heavily to any one and/or everyone.