By IANS
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Tuesday denied its state police officials were involved in the killing of Gujarat resident Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a staged killing even as the Hyderabad police commissioner said it is a common practice for police of one state to help their counterparts in other states.
Amid fresh revelations in the Supreme Court about the involvement of police officers from Hyderabad in the staged encounter, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said that no one from the state was involved. "To the best of my knowledge this information (about the complicity of Hyderabad police) is incorrect," he told a private television news channel.
Three senior police officials – two from Gujarat and one from Rajasthan – were arrested last week in Ahmedabad for the killing of Sheikh, whom they branded as a terrorist. Investigation reports submitted by Gujarat government in the Supreme Court claimed that seven police officers from Hyderabad had not only provided logistical support to a team of Gujarat police but also tipped them about the movement of the couple here and affixed Andhra Pradesh number plates on two vehicles from Gujarat. The two vehicles were used to stop the bus taking Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi to Sangli in Maharashtra, at Tandola village on Hyderabad-Mumbai national highway.
Meanwhile, Misbahuddin, who was driving the bus belonging to Sangeeta Travels, in which the couple was travelling, said the bus was stopped by two vehicles and policemen took three people of the bus, including a woman, into their custody. The third person the police took away is believed to be Tulsiram Prajapati, an eyewitness, whose fate is still not known. Gujarat government has already admitted in the apex court that Sheikh was killed in a fake encounter near Ahmedabad on Nov 25, 2005. His wife was killed two days later and her body burnt.
Home Minister K. Jana Reddy declined to comment, saying he would be in a position to say something only after two days. "It is a three-year-old case. I don't remember anything. I have to collect information and then only can I comment," he said.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh, however, said it was common for police of one state to help their counterparts from other states in investigations of various cases. "If Gujarat police approach us for investigations (into the fake encounter) we will extend all cooperation," he told newsmen.
A senior Indian Police Service official from Gujarat posted here had reportedly provided all assistance to R.K. Pandian, one of the three officials who have now been arrested for the staged killing, and six other policemen from Gujarat. They stayed at a police mess here while officials of Hyderabad police provided them information about the movements of Sheikh and his wife, who were staying at a hotel in Afzal Gunj locality.
The Gujarat team was also informed about the couple boarding a bus to Sangli (Maharashtra) and it was then that the vehicle registration number plates of Andhra Pradesh were affixed on two Tata Qualis vehicles from Gujarat. The vehicles followed the bus. At Tandola, about 180 km from Hyderabad, the bus was stopped and three people picked up.
Some police officials of Hyderabad have defended the cooperation extended to the Gujarat team saying they were made to believe that Sheikh was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. The officials, who did not want to be named, pointed out that Hyderabad had emerged as a hub of terror suspects and 17 people were picked up from the city in connection with the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. The officials said they did not know that this would eventually lead to a staged encounter.