Motive behind killing not established?
Rathin Das
Ahmedabad
THE GUJARAT CID on Monday filed a chargesheet against three IPS officers – D.G. Vanzara, R.K. Pandyan and Dinesh Kumar M.N – and 10 other policemen in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The CID had given an action taken report to the Supreme Court last week. The CID’s 713-page chargesheet, given in a sealed cover to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K.J. Upadhyay, will be heard next week when each accused will be read out charges. A copy of it will also be submitted in the Supreme Court. Although details of the chargesheet were not disclosed, it is believed the team has failed to establish a definite motive behind the ‘encounter’. All it has managed to do is to indicate that Vanzara wanted to get into Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s good books by publicising that Sohrabuddin was gunned down for plotting to assassinate Modi at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. This theory shifts suspicion from Rajasthan’s marble lobby It was believed the lobby had told the political leadership in the two states that their “bribing” capacity would be seriously hampered if they paid extortionists like Sohrabuddin. However, the involvement of the Rajasthan police in the encounter dilutes the theory that Vanzara did it to improve his image. In the annexures attached to the chargesheet, the CID also submitted material evidence, including bullets recovered from Sohrabuddin’s body and soil samples dug up from a covered well in Vanzara’s house. But it is unclear if the samples have conclusive evidence of the remains of Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi, who was reportedly burnt and buried there. rathindas_2000@yahoo.com Fake encounter case THE CRIME ohrabuddin Sheikh (left), an alleged extortionist, was killed in a fake encounter by a joint team of the Gujarat and Rajasthan police near Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005. He was branded a Lashkar-e Tayebba operative plotting to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi he Ujjain resident’s wife Kausar Bi (left) and friend Tulsiram Prajapati were reportedly killed later na petition filed by Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin, the Supreme Court earlier this year asked the Gujarat ID to probe the matter IIIIIFhe CID team, after preliminary investigation, arrested then Gujarat ATS chief D.G. Vanzara, SP R.K. Pandyan and Rajasthan STF officer Dinesh Kumar M.N in April ine more policemen, including three from the Rajasthan STF, were arrested later KEY PLAYERS D.G. Vanzara: The chargesheet reportedly states the crime was an attempt by the then ATS chief to get into the good books of Modi R.K. Pandyan: The Gujarat Police Superintendent of Police was Vanzara’s deputy in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh operation Dinesh Kumar M.N: His involvement seems to point to the involvement of the powerful Rajasthan marble lobby in the murder.
– Hindustan Times (July 17, 2007)
