Tulsiram Prajapati, a friend of Sohrabuddin Sheikh whose killing in a fake encounter by Gujarat police has led to the arrest of three IPS officers, had written to an Udaipur court that he too feared elimination. Eventually, Prajapati was killed near Ambaji in north Gujarat on December 28, a few days after an interim report by Inspector-General Geeta Johri found that the Sheikh encounter had been faked. Police claimed Prajapati was also killed in an encounter after he escaped from police custody.

Prajapati had also warned Sohrabuddin’s brothers to be careful and not make the mistake of venturing into Gujarat, saying that the encounter cops planned to eliminate them for going to court over Sohrabuddin’s killing.

Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin, whose petition in Supreme Court led to the arrest of DIG D G Vanjhara and two other IPS officers for faking the Sheikh encounter, told The Indian Express that “Prajapati always knew he was going to be killed. In fact, he had even asked the police why they didn’t kill him with Sohrabuddin”.

Rubabuddin quoted Prajapati as saying that “the only reason they did not kill me with Sohrabuddin was because, being a Hindu, I did not fit into the police story of a Lashkar plot to kill Narendra Modi.”

Prajapati had also sent a nine-page letter to the Udaipur Sessions Court, fearing for his safety while inside Udaipur jail and on the way to the court hearings.

Rubabuddin said that a couple of months before he was killed, Prajapati had sent a message to see him during a court hearing in Ujjain. He said Prajapati told him that the encounter cops were sure to target him (Rubabuddin) because he was pursuing court cases and Nayabuddin (the youngest of the five Sheikh brothers) because he was actively involved in collecting evidence and was looking for Sohrabuddin’s missing wife Kauser.

... contd.