NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, 10 May 2007 — In a seven-page statement, police officers D.G. Vanzara and S.P. Rajkumar Pandian confessed that they killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005 in a fake encounter.
The two officers, who are suspended from service and have been placed in judicial custody, made the confession before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Gujarat’s capital Ahmedabad. They also confessed to killing Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi, who had witnessed the murder of her husband.
“As the arrested police officers’ 14-day remand period ended, the court directed that they be sent to the Sabarmati Central Jail on judicial custody,” said Arvind Pandya, counsel for M.N. Dinesh Kumar (Rajasthan Police), who has been charged along with Vanzara and Pandian.
With there being reports of death threats against the three officers, particularly Vanzara, special security arrangements were made at the prison. The threat is said to be from those detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Over 200 people are currently held at the Sabarmati Central Jail under the POTA. The Sabarmati jail also houses those facing trial in the Godhra train carnage case, the murder of former Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya, and the serial tiffin box bomb explosions case. Most of them were arrested by Vanzara, who was head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), and Pandian, who was his deputy.
Dismissing reports about threats, officers at the Sabarmati Central Jail said: “If there is a threat, we would know. We are not aware of any threat.”
Sohrabuddin had been branded a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant. Gujarat police had then claimed he had been killed in an “encounter.” However, recent evidence indicates that the powerful marble lobby of Rajasthan had given money to Vanzara’s ATS to dispose of Sohrabuddin, who was apparently extorting money from marble businessmen. There are also reports that around 60 million rupees were paid to the officers to arrange the murder.
Rajasthan police claim that Sohrabuddin was involved in crimes in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and had found sanctuary in Udaipur. Rajasthan police had put a 25,000 rupee reward on his head and wanted him for a murder.
Meanwhile, proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were disrupted for the third consecutive day yesterday. In the Lok Sabha, members from three parties (Left, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal) were on their feet demanding a discussion on the Gujarat fake encounters.
The Supreme Court will hear a plea, next week, to transfer the case to the CBI as three states are involved in it.
