AHMEDABAD, APRIL 29: In a new twist to the Tulsiram Prajapati “encounter” case , an NGO activist has claimed that he had witnessed the death which occurred in December 2006. Abdul Hamid Chhoria, 52, told the police last week that he was a witness to the fake encounter. According to his statement, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, officers of the Banaskantha district police killed Prajapati in Dahiya village, and then staged the “encounter” in Chhapari village near Ambaji.

Prajapati was the sole witness when the Gujarat Police picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife from a bus heading towards Sangli from Hyderabad in November 2005. He was killed in an “encounter” by the Banaskantha police on December 28, 2006 - the day he was supposed to be interrogated by IG, CID (Crime) Geetha Johri in connection with Sohrabuddin’s fake encounter.

D G Vanjhara, the prime accused in the Sohrabuddin case, was the Range DIG of Banaskantha district at the time of Prajapati’s “encounter”. Interestingly, Chhoria was recently arrested in connection with a financial dispute and is at present lodged in Palanpur sub-jail. He has moved an application in the High Court alleging harassment by the police because he was a witness to the fake encounter.

Police have questioned the timing of statement, asking why Chhoria had kept quiet for so long. Deputy Inspector General of Police, CID (Crime), I M Desai, said: “Though I do not see any substance in his statement, we will start recording statements of the policemen whose names have been mentioned in it.”

In his statement, Chhoria has said he knew Prajapati well as his job involved helping people with free legal advice. On December 27, 2006, Chhoria claims, he was at the Joravar Palace campus in Palanpur, which also houses the office of the DSP Vipul Agarwal. “I saw a Maruti Gypsy and a Scorpio coming inside the campus. Suddenly, somebody sitting inside called out for me. When I peeped inside the car, I saw Prajapati sitting with two policemen,” said Chhoria in his statement registered by R K Patel, police inspector of CID (Crime). Seeking help from Chhoria, Prajapati reportedly told him that the police had beaten him up.

Chhoria said the police later escorted Prajapati out of the campus, and he followed them in his vehicle. “The police team took Prajapati towards Kapodara bridge near Palanpur at around 7 pm, and he was then taken to Banas Dairy Product Private Limited which was owned by Bharat Agarwal, a relative of Vipul Agarwal. At midnight, he was escorted to Dahiya village and shot twice. The police then wrapped his body in a cloth and dumped it in Chhapari village,” he claimed. In their statement, the police had alleged that Prajapati fled from custody while he was being brought to Gujarat from Rajasthan for a court hearing. He was later killed in an encounter on December 28, 2006, near Ambaji, while his two accomplices managed to escape, claimed the police.