By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court will Monday deliver its verdict on a Gujarat government petition challenging the anticipatory bail granted to a state police officer allegedly involved in a 2005 staged killing.
A bench of judges Tarun Chatterjee and Balasubramanyam Friday reserved its verdict after hearing arguments by state counsel K.T.S. Tulsi and counsel for Gujrat Deputy Superintendent of Police Narendra Kumar Amin.
Making a strong pitch for cancelling the anticipatory bail granted to Amin by an Ahmedabad court, Tulsi argued the officer’s custodial interrogation was essential to get to the bottom of the case.
The case relates to the staged killings of Ujjain resident Sohrabuddn Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and their friend Tulsiram Prajapati.
Tulsi contended that though Amin might not be directly involved in the incident, he is suspected to be in the loop of the larger plot for the killings and believed to have a role in disposing off Kausar Bi’s body.
The counsel contended that while out on bail, Amin had refused to cooperate with the police and instead of answering the queries of the investigating officer in the case, virtually began interrogating him.
Amin’s counsel N. Nageshwar Rao maintained the officer was innocent and accused the Gujarat Police of wanting to make him a witness in the case.
Despite having absolutely no role in the case, Amin was being pressured by a Gujarat Police team headed by Inspector General Geeta Johri to support its version of the incident, Rao stated.
In an unusual step, the Supreme Court had earlier decided to scrutinise first hand the Ahmedabad court order granting bail to Amin.
The court had asked the Gujarat government to directly file an appeal against the bail order after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had pointed out a series of gaping holes in the Gujarat government probe into the triple killings.
Elaborating on the various lapses in the probe, Subramanium, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the case, had pointed out that the Gujarat government was so biased against the police officers investigating the killings that it did not even challenge in the Gujarat High Court the anticipatory bail granted to Amin.
Reading out the bail order, Subramanium had pointed out to the court that it virtually amounted to a character certificate for Amin, against whom a police head-constable said in a statement that he might be involved in Kausar Bi’s killing.
At this, the bench had asked various counsels, including Tulsi, if it could directly entertain a petition against the order of the Ahmedabad court. Such petitions generally go to a high court before reaching the Supreme Court.