Another top cop under scanner for erasing Amit Shah reference in CD

The role of retired IPS officer O P Mathur,who was in-charge of the Gujarat CID when it was probing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case....

The role of retired IPS officer O P Mathur,who was in-charge of the Gujarat CID when it was probing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case,is under the scanner because CBI officials said all references to then Minister Amit Shah had been deleted from a compact disc the CID handed to the agency after the case was transferred.

Officials said Gujarat Additional Director General (Crime) Rajnish Rai turned in a copy of the original version of the CD and this helped the CBI establish that Shah made calls to senior IPS officers during the Sohrabuddin encounter. Mathur,the officials said, might be booked by the CBI for destruction of evidence,even arrested.

Mathur was ADGP and looking after the state CID (Crime) when Rajnish Rai,then DIG,arrested three IPS officers, D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh M N, in connection with the encounter.

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Rai made a CD of conversations between Vanzara and senior police officers and other evidences at the time of the encounter and handed it to Mathur. The CD handed to the CBI was minus references to Shah. But Rai later handed a copy which had conversations that showed Shah spoke to Vanzara and other officers.

Mathur and another retired officer G C Raigar have been called for questioning by the CBI. Mathur is presently the head of Raksha Shakti University set up recently by the state government.

The CBI today questioned Raigar for six hours at its office in the Old Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar. I was called as a witness in the case,so I appeared before them, he told reporters.

CBI officials said that based on statements made by Raigar in the first two hours of questioning,the CBI gave an application in court to question Shah.

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Mathur was asked to appear before the CBI by 4 pm but did not turn up. Officials said he had written to them saying he would appear this week.

When contacted,CBI DIG P Kandaswamy refused to comment on Mathur. Investigations are still on. I cannot tell you at the moment who is going to be charged or arrested. About the CD and investigations,we have informed the court, Kandaswamy said.

With ENS,Ahmedabad

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