‘We now hope to get justice’

He,however,stopped short of naming the politicians and ministers allegedly linked with the case. “I am confident that the CBI investigation will expose them and nail the whole truth in the case,” Rubabuddin said. “Besides,there are police and some government officials from Gujarat,Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh connected with the conspiracy behind the fake encounter and only a central agency can do justice in such a complicated case,” Rubabuddin said.

It was because of these reasons,he said,that he had been demanding a CBI probe into the episode. Moreover,he said,it was not possible for Gujarat cops working under the Narendra Modi dispensation to do full justice in the case. He said this was was quite evident from the loopholes left in the investigation by the Gujarat police in spite of the arrest of 13 policemen,including three IPS officers — D G Vanzara,Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh Kumar.

Elaborating on the alleged loopholes,he said that the chargesheet prepared by Gujarat police failed to mention the owner of the bike used by Sohrabuddin at the time of encounter. According to the police,the owner had also been involved in the encounter,he said. The chargesheet,he said,also failed to mention why and how Kausar Bi,Sohrabuddin’s wife,was killed. It also did not mention his (Rubabuddin’s) call on the cellphone of Sohrabuddin on November 23 and 24,2005,after Sohrabuddin was picked up by the Gujarat police in Andhra Pradesh.

“These loopholes were left in the chargesheet to weaken the case and ensure the accused went scotfree,” he said.

He also pointed out how former investigator and IPS officer Geetha Johri was given a “prize posting as Commissioner of Police at Rajkot and also favoured by the Modi government in a land deal issue in Gandhinagar”.

“All this shows that Gujarat police investigator were not being free and fair in the case,” he stressed.

Rubabuddin said that he was also pressured by the Modi government to back out from the case and a false case pertaining to extortion was registered against him by the Ujjain police when he refused to comply. He said that more than four dozen policemen in plainclothes surrounded his house on the night of January 29,2009 to arrest him though there was no case against him. However,the cops went back when the villagers protested and offered resistance.

Rubabuddin,who got his right leg amputated due to gangrene in July last year,said,“After I sent a telegram to the apex court about police trying to arrest me without any charges against me,I was told by the Nagda police that my two brothers,my 80-year-old father and me were wanted in a case of threat and intimidation lodged by a tenant of my friend Virendra Jojoria.”

Rubabuddin and his family members have now secured anticipatory bail in the case. “It was a fake complaint because neither I nor any of my family members ever threatened Jojoria’s tenant,” he said.

According to Rubabuddin,it was part of the pressure tactics to force him to withdraw from the case the proper investigation of which was sure to expose the role of top politicians of Gujarat and neighbouring Rajasthan in the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and the cold-blooded murder of his wife Kausar Bi.

However,despite all this,Rubabuddin and his family continue to maintain their connection with the BJP. While his father Anwaruddin,the biggest landlord of his village and a one-time district president of the Jan Sangh had later joined the BJP,his elder brother Shahnawazuddin is the existing vice president of the Ujjain unit of the party.

Who was Sohrabuddin Sheikh?

Sohrabuddin Sheikh,who was 35 years old when killed by Gujarat police in fake encounter,did have a criminal record but no terror-related charges as had been claimed by the Gujarat police as a reason for the encounter. Sheikh,a resident of Jharaniya village in Madhya Pradesh,had cases pending against him in Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The cases ranged from drug peddling to extortion,and there were some related to kidnapping and murder as well. The first case reported against Sohrabuddin with Gujarat police was in 1994 after they seized arms,including AK-47s,from his farm in Jharaniya.

D G Vanzara,who was the Gujarat ATS chief,had said after the encounter that they had received intelligence input from the Rajasthan police that Sohrabuddin was on a mission to assassinate Narendra Modi. Vanzara had added that it was an ISI-LeT plot and the tipoff said that he was headed towards Ahmedabad from Surat on a motorbike. He was killed near Vishala Cross Roads on the morning of November 25,2005.

encounter speak

Veerappa Moily,Union Law Minister: “The rule of law applies to every territory and territory of Gujarat is not exempted from the enforcement of the rule of law.” Moily said that the Gujarat government was mistaken in thinking that “you can kill anybody in the name of encounter”.

Jay Narayan Vyas,Gujarat government spokesperson : The government was yet to receive a copy of the order “but we will take an appropriate action after studying the order”,said Vyas. “There is nothing for the state to hide or worry about because this is not the first case where investigation was transferred from the state police to a supreme court appointed SIT.”

Gujarat Congress: Reacting to the development,Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Shaktsinh Gohil said that the order was a “victory of truth” and has “exposed” the Gujarat government. “The CBI is neither a central nor state government agency and its impartial probe will get get justice,” said Gohil. He said that the apex court would not have ordered a CBI probe had the gujarat government not acted “like a criminal”.

Jan Sangharsh Manch: At a press conference Tuesday evening,Mukul Sinha of JSM,an NGO which is fighting the case,said they were satisfied with the SC order. “The SC order will have implication on other encounter cases including Ishrat Jahan,Sadiq Jamal and other such cases.” Sinha added: “The CBI will be able to find out the bias of the Gujarat police as well as the inter-state operations which were carried out. We will use the order in this case to secure transfer of other cases to the CBI for investigations. The CBI will be able to find out the bias of the Gujarat police as well as the inter-state operations which were carried out.”

The case: how it unfolded

November 21,2005 : Sohrabuddin,his wife and friend Tulsi Prajapati were picked up from a bus in Andhra Pradesh by Gujarat police.

November 26,2005 : Sohrabuddin gunned down near Vishala Circle on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Police claim he had come to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi and VHP leader Pravin Togadia.

November 29,2005: Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi killed and her body burnt and disposed of in Ilol,D G Vanzara’s village. After Sohrabuddin was gunned down,investigation was conducted by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). But it was closed down by filing A-summary,saying that the two other accused including Rasool Parti,were not traceable.

December 2005: Rubabuddin,Sohrabuddin’s brother ,moves the Supreme court,suspecting the encounter to be a case of murder and also questioning the disappearance of his sister-in-law.

July 2006: Following Supreme Court order,CID (Crime) begins investigation.

December 29,2006: Tulsiram Prajapati,the lone witness,killed in encounter at

Banaskantha.

April 2007: CID (Crime) submits its report in September 2006,proving it to be case of murder and not an encounter,opening a can of worms,leading to arrest of three IPS officials.

April 25,2007: Rajnish Rai of CID (Crime) arrests Vanzara,Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh Kumar.

April 30,2007 : Gujarat government concedes that Kasur Bi,wife of Sohrabuddin,could have been liquidated by cops concerned in an action taken report submitted to the Supreme Court.

May 3,2007: The Supreme Court admits

petition seeking CBI inquiry into the fake

encounter killing.

May 4,2007: Inquiry taken from Rajnish Rai and handed over once again to Geetha Johri who was heading the probe initially.

May 14,2007: One of the police officers

arrested in connection with fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh has confessed before magistrate,says Guj govt to SC.

July 12,2007: Gujarat CID rules out role of politicians in fake encounter.

July 16,2007: CID (Crime) files first chargesheet against the 13 policemen.

October 1,2008: The Supreme Court stays the trial in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case against three former senior cops and 10 other policemen after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium punched holes in the chargesheet terming it a deliberate attempt by the state DGP to obliterate the case trail leading to big guns.

August 3,2009: SC asks Gujarat why case not be entrusted to SIT.

August 4,2009: SC asks Gujarat government to pay damage to Sohrabuddin brother.

August 11,2009: Supreme Court directs Gujarat to pay an “interim ex gratia” of

Rs 10 lakh to the family even as the state

government opposed any move to entrust

investigations of the killings to the Special

Investigation Team.

September 17,2009: Sohrabuddin probe should be given to CBI,says Solicitor General – Gopal Subramanium

January 12,2010: SC orders that the

investigation be handed over to CBI.