By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: There is another embarrassment for the Andhra Pradesh government and its police as the state police officers are being grilled by the CBI in regard to Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
Sohrabuddin encounter case is haunting the officers who assisted the Gujarat Police in kidnapping of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser bi. CBI officials summoned two police officers from A.P. cadre for enquiry and grilled them for nearly four hours. The two police officers were DIG intelligence Mr. G.N. Bala Subramanyam and ACP Shamsabad Mr. Ch. Srinivas Rao. In 2005 Mr. Bala Subrahmanyam was S.P. of Prakasham district, and Mr. Rao, was then the Inspector of the Rajendranagar police station in Cyberabad.
According to the CBI, Mr. Bala Subrahmanyam got a room booked in IPS officers’ mess for Gujarat Police official Raj Kumar Pandiyan. The central agency got upon some evidence of his being in touch with the jailed Gujarat cadre IPS officer, D. G. Vanzara, who was arrested in this connection. According to CBI, the evidence showed that Mr. Vanzara had spoken to Mr. Balasubramanyam around the period Sohrabuddin was picked up from the bus.
Another police official Mr. Ch. Srinivas Rao who was also grilled by the CBI is believed to have known the whereabouts of Sohrabuddin, who was allegedly provided shelter in the Rajendranagar area by a Naxalite-cum-police informer, Nayeemuddin, and handed over to the Gujarat police. Nayeemuddin is supposed to be the “third person” travelling with Sohrabuddin and his wife, but after his name started coming up in the media, he disappeared. CBI officers suspect that A.P police might have made Nayeemuddin underground, but search for Nayeemuddin has been intensified by the CBI as he could be a big breakthrough in the fake encounter case.
All these developments are coming after the Supreme Court on 1st Dec. 2011 slammed Andhra Pradesh government and CBI while hearing the case. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai said that there is a “deliberate attempt to suppress information”. Supreme Court observed “It is something very serious, the state has not performed its duty and the CBI is also faltering in the case,” while pointing out the failure of the CBI to identify the Andhra Pradesh police officials involved in the fake encounter.
Meanwhile IPS fraternity in the state is showing discontent over the questioning of DIG N Balasubramanyam by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, and throwing their weight behind the accused police officers. The IPS association of A.P. is giving full support to the police officers who might have been involved in this case. It was evident when the secretary of the IPS Association of Andhra Pradesh AP Venkateswara Rao, accompanied Mr. Balasubramanyam to Ahmedabad during the period when the DIG was quizzed by the CBI team, to provide him the moral support. Even there is a possibility of a meeting by the office bearers of Andhra Pradesh IPS Association shortly to discuss the issue.
The questioning of AP police officers was expected as the CBI is in deep pressure from the Supreme Court to identify the 7 police officers from A.P who helped Gujarat police to kidnap Sohrabuddin and his wife, and accompanied them to Ahmedabad.