NEW DELHI, 17 July 2007 — The central government was trying to turn a case related to the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in Ahmedabad into an “election issue,” the Gujarat government lawyer told the Supreme Court yesterday during a hearing in the case.
State government counsel K.T.S. Tulsi made the allegation during the hearing before the bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyan as Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanyam began questioning the quality of the investigation into the case.
“The problem is that the center wants to turn the case into an election issue, which are only months away (in Gujarat),” snapped an agitated Tulsi, adding that the investigation was being carried out under the supervision of the apex court itself.
Subramanyam stoutly rejected the allegation. Reminding that he was not in the court as the law officer of the government but as an amicus curiae appointed by the court, Subramanyam retorted: “I am not concerned whether the center makes it an election issue. I am concerned with the killings of three individuals, who had been murdered by senior officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS).”
Subramanyam’s rebuttal came as Attorney General Milon K. Banerjee, who made a rare appearance in the court, watched the proceedings. “I am hear to watch,” said Banerjee.
The bench eventually asked Tulsi to hand over a copy of the charge sheet related to the staged gunfight killings of three people by the state police to Subramanyam by next Monday to examine the quality of the investigation.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed the charge sheet in an Ahmedabad court yesterday.
The case relates to abduction and killings of Ujjain resident Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and their friend Tulsiram Prajapati.
Sohrabuddin was killed in the wee hours of Nov. 26, 2005 by an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team of the Gujarat police that claimed he was a terrorist. His wife and his friend were killed later.
Following his brother’s petition, the Supreme Court earlier this year asked the CID to investigate the matter.
At the hearing, Tulsi began apprising the court that the state had filed last week the latest, fifth status report on the probe into the killings and filed the charge sheet in an Ahmedabad court.
Tulsi said that the probe team had examined a total of 179 witnesses and requested the court to not to disclose their identities.
The information given by Tulsi prompted Subramanyam to point a finger at the quality of the probe into the case.
He said that an officer of the rank of the additional director general of police had meddled into the investigation.
He said that the state was trying to provide an escape route to the accused in the case.
This allegation prompted Tulsi to accuse the central government of playing politics.
