Gujarat
Fake Encounter Controversy
The 2007
Gujarat Fake Encounter Controversy started when the police
of Gujarat state in India admitted on March 23, 2007 to the killing
of an alleged extortionist "Sohrabuddin Sheikh" in
a staged gun battle (such battles are known as an "encounter
killings" in India) on November 26, 2005.
The police at that time had claimed that the man, belonged to the
Pakistan linked terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba and was planning to
assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to avenge the
death of Muslims killed in the 2002 Gujarat violence. The
government also admitted that Sohrabuddin's innocent wife Kausarbi
had been killed by the police and her body burnt in an attempt to
remove the traces of the crime.
The
Accusation
A journalist
Prashant Dayal, reported the story in November
2006 of the fake encounter.
Prashant
Dayal, one time rickshawallah-turned-journalist, played a spirited
role behind these sensational arrests.
"It is
alleged that Sohrabuddin was a big goon in Rajasthan, involved in
extorting ransom from big marble merchants and rich builders. "My
sources in Gujarat police claimed that some Rajasthan-based people
arranged for Rs 2 crore supari (contract killing) for killing
Sohrabuddin. But the stage was set in Gujarat, instead of
Rajasthan". The police picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife along
with a close aide Tulsi Prajapati from a APSRTC bus near Sangli, Maharashtra. The inquiry led
by police officer Geetha Johari brought out some important facts.
Police officers took three of them to a farmhouse near Ahmedabad,
tortured them and then killed Sohrabuddin in a fake encounter.
Then, the police officers feared that Kausarbi would spill the
beans. The involved officers killed her first then burnt the body.
Tulsi was let off at that time, as he was an (police) informer. But
when newspapers started reporting the fake encounter, expectedly,
the news about Tulsi being killed also came out."
Supreme
Courts Intervention
Responding to a
petition filed by Rubabuddin, Sohrabuddin's brother, which claimed
that that the Gujarat police's encounter was fake and demanding his
sister-in-law Kausarbi's whereabouts, the Supreme Court intervened
in the case.
In March 2007, an inquiry was ordered, and on March 23, the
government admitted that the encounter was fake
and the senior police officers involved; would not be spared. On
April 24, the Gujarat police arrested its Deputy Inspector General
(Border Range) D G Vanzara and Rajkumar
Pandian, superintendent of police with the Intelligence Bureau, and
M N Dinesh Kumar (Rajasthan police) on
the charge of murdering Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Rubabuddin asked the SC
judge to direct the Gujarat government to produce Kausarbi in
court. On April 30, the Gujarat government admitted before the
Supreme Court that Kauserbi, wife of fake encounter victim
Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has been killed and her body burnt.
Allegations
The case has seen
a number of allegations being put forward.
Firstly, Sohrabuddin was alleged as an extortionist by Prakash
Dayal, the journalist who broke the news of the encounter. Next it
has been alleged by the Union Textile Minister Shankersinh Vaghela
that Sohrabuddin and several other persons were killed in a similar
fashion at the behest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Many
local Indian National Congress leaders have alleged that the senior
BJP leader Om Mathur, Minister of State
for Home Amit Shah and Modi are responsible for hatching the
conspiracy of the fake encounter. The intriguing part is that
DIG Vanzara was a known favourite of
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
"What
went wrong with this encounter case is that there were far
too many evidences which the erring officers had to remove to prove
that Sohrabuddin was a terrorist", senior officers
say.
Image Credits:
3. NDTV
5. BBC News
Reference Credits:
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