By Mohd Ismail Khan, Twocircles.net,
Hyderabad: It’s been nearly six years since Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed in a fake encounter and his wife Kausar Bi was burnt alive. The investigations had undergone a whole lot of twists and turns with Gujarat C.I.D and even the C.B.I later probing in to it, still the truth behind the involvement of police officials from Andhra Pradesh [AP] who helped and abetted in the fake encounter remains a mystery.
The details of those seven police officers from AP who accompanied the Gujarat ATS are unknown. The AP police were successful in keeping their involvement under wraps until now.
The enquiries conducted by IPS officer Geeta Johri in 2007, revealed that the AP police had the role of providing logistic support to the Gujarat ATS and helped them by keeping an eye on Sohrabuddin while he was in Hyderabad. They helped them by nabbing him and his wife Kausar Bi outside the Andhra borders when they were travelling by a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli [Maharashtra] in November 2005. She even recommended C.B.I enquiry into it, as she felt that the AP police wasn’t cooperating with the investigation.
Later the Supreme Court [SC] too made an observation that the probe is not well directed, as the charge sheet didn’t reveal identities of the AP police personnel involved. Thus the SC was forced to hand over the investigation to CBI. Till date the AP police have released profiles of 12 cops who have been declared ‘absconders’ in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and all among them were said to be from the Central Crime Station headed by Additional Commissioner of police, Crimes.
CBI has questioned AP cadre IPS officers including Rajiv Trivedi, ACP, Crimes, in November 2005, he hails from Gujarat and he is notorious for his anti-Muslim attitude. AP state service officers Anil Kumar, TV Sashidhar Reddy, L K Shinde and E Radhakrishnaiah, a 1986-batch Gujarat cadre officer, who was posted as DIG, CRPF in Hyderabad during that time, were the other officers to be questioned.
There were many assumptions on why Sohrabuddin was eliminated? One such apprehension was that the elimination was linked to the murder of Gujarat’s former Home Minister Haren Pandya. He was one among Modi’s adversary and was killed in January 2003. It is suspected that Sohrabuddin was killed because he knew so much regarding Haren Pandya murder. Besides there were allegations that Sohrabuddin was a notorious blackmailer and that he was troubling the rich marble traders in Rajasthan.
Asghar Ali was arrested from Hyderabad being alleged of killing Pandya, but a few months later he was released on the orders of the Gujarat High Court which dismissed his conviction. The moment Asghar Ali landed in Nalgonda; he was arrested by the AP police, as they charged him with some old cases and was jailed in Hyderabad. Immediately after a few weeks, he was transferred to Visakhapatnam jail. Though administrative reasons were cited for his transfer to the new jail, there were doubts on whether this was a tactic to keep him quiet. Asghar, though not involved in the Haren Pandya murder, knows a lot about this case. Earlier being imprisoned in the Sabarmati jail, it is believed that he revealed a lot on this case, to the then superintendent of prison Sanjiv Bhatt, who is now up against the Modi.
It is said that Sohrabuddin was kidnapped by the AP police with the help of their informer, Nayeemuddin. Nayeemuddin being a surrendered Naxalite, later turned out to be a police informer as he started his own extortion and weapon smuggling rackets in Andhra Pradesh. He was the main pawn in this whole conspiracy of the police to eliminate Sohrabuddin, on the orders of AP police he lured Sohrabuddin to Hyderabad by putting forward proposals of business extensions and weapons deal. As and when Sohrabuddin reached Hyderabad, he stayed at Nayeemuddin’s residence. Sohrabuddin was accompanied his wife kausar bi, as she was in need of some Unani treatment from Hyderabad. It was since then they booked tickets no-29, 30 and 31 in a luxurious bus numbered 5051, for their journey from Hyderabad to Sangli.
Allegedly the third person travelling with them was Nayeemuddin as he had intensions of keeping a close tab on the couple. Then he must have well informed his masters in AP police regarding their journey status; this helped the Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra police officers in carrying out a joint operation by which Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi got kidnapped. As and when the bus reached the Todala village at Hyderabad-Sangli road, at around 1am on 23rd November 2005, the Gujarat police assisted by Andhra Pradesh police intercepted and halted the bus. Then they dragged the couples down from the bus and took them in different cars along with Nayeemuddin. The Tata Sumo’s used for the operation were provided by the AP police, and they even accompanied the kidnap caravan to Gujarat.
In 2007 Gujarat C.I.D led by Mrs Geeta Johri tried to find out the role of AP police in the whole case, but they were not willing to cooperate with her. As a result the CID charge sheet portrayed the seven AP police officers as unknown. It was since then the Supreme Court entrusted the case to CBI, primarily intended at identifying the conspirators from Andhra Police. The Attorney General convinced the Court that the CBI alone was sufficient in probing the involvement and so the court had complete trust on the central agency.
CBI entered the case on February 2010, and filed a charge sheet in July. The charge sheet (Para 18-20) explicitly accused that the AP Police too had their part on the plot to kill Sohrabuddin. On 20th March 2010, senior CBI official S S Giri met, Salima the sister of Nayeemuddin [the crucial witness and AP police informer]. Her recorded statement alleged that Nayeemuddin was just a pawn in the whole operation and that the AP police have a role in keeping him hidden. Thus being assured of their involvement, the CBI in its first report 30th July 2010 told the Court that “Efforts to identify the (AP) police officers are on progress”.
But on 30th November 2010, when the central agency submitted its final report to the court, there was a total somersault from its earlier version saying that the AP police had no involvement in the offence. CBI took a huge U turn to protect the guilty police officers, by even lying to the court that despite their best efforts they went unsuccessful in finding out Nayeemudddin and his sister Salima; no later they were proclaimed as absconders.
There were even more blatant lies, as they were not reluctant in presenting in the court that, ‘though after thorough examinations we are unable to yield anything helpful in the investigations’, from the Andhra Police Personnel. CBI went on closing all efforts to identify the co-conspirators of this case from A.P, by even trying to suppress the crucial evidence of the Vehicle Entry Register, of the IPS Officers Mess for a period of August 2005 to May 2006. This could have well revealed the identity of the Tata Sumo car drivers and the abettors from AP police. These disappearances of evidences and witnesses were an obvious cover up from the part of the agency.
It seems that the congress government both at the centre and the state levels don’t want to expose the truths behind a heinous crime carried out under the noses of their political bosses. The probes at present by the C.B.I are completely focused on the police officials of Gujarat and Rajasthan, both ruled by BJP (Rajasthan-at the time of encounter). So congress aims to use this encounter as a political weapon to counter BJP; but they obviously want to save the skin of the officers in the state ruled by them by which they could well save themselves from embarrassment. The huge ‘U’ turn by the C.B.I speaks for it self.
Now on 1st December 2011 Supreme Court in its verdict have slammed Andhra Pradesh government. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai said that there is a “deliberate attempt to suppress information”, the bench observed by specifically pointing out that the register which records the movement of the police officials went unnoticed.
Andhra Pradesh police officials had made it clear that the register, recording the duty time and movement of its officials went missing.
Mr. Gopal Subramaniam the amicus curie, who is assisting the court on this case, submitted that the investigating agency has failed to identify the AP police officials who were alleged to be involved in the fake encounter. “It is something very serious. The state has not performed its duty and the CBI is also faltering in the case,” he said.
This has been a case how the police forces of three different states could ally themselves to carry out an illegal pan India operation. Justice cannot be served with some of the abettors of the crime kept for languishing in the jail and some others being asked to continue their routine life in air conditioned rooms. This is Just because they got to be lucky that a different government is ruling them. The word Encounter had became synonymous to murder, often carried out by high profile officers because they think they could get away. There can’t be any epilogue in this case till the justice is properly served, and the case should lay down an example for those police officers who think they are above the law. A vibrant and impartial probe is sought to ensure punishment to all those guilty.