New Delhi: The action-taken report (ATR) submitted by the Gujarat Government in the Supreme Court on April 30 squarelyblames the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the State and the Andhra Pradesh police for the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter.

The ATR submitted was released on Thursday after a Bench consisting of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyan passed interim orders.

While informing the court of the arrest of senior police officers involved in the fake encounter, the ATR said: "Sohrabuddin had booked two tickets to travel from Hyderabad to Sangli in a bus; Sohrabuddin and [his wife] Kausar Bi boarded the bus at Hyderabad on November 22, 2005; on the night of November 22/23, 2005, a few armed persons stopped the bus midway; the armed men were of ATS, Gujarat State and Andhra Pradesh police. While the identity of Gujarat police has been established on the oral testimony of witnesses, the identity of AP police personnel has so far not been established; these armed persons picked up three persons from the bus. Out of these three persons, identity of two persons has been established — they were Sohrabduddin and Kausar Bi."

It said: "Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were brought to Ahmedabad by road by personnel of ATS, Gujarat State and AP police in different vehicles and were confined in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Ahmedabad; Sohrabuddin was killed in the police firing in the wee hours of November 26, 2005, and a few days later, the body of Kausar Bi was disposed of by burning it in the village of Illol of Sabarkantha district."

Representation to CJI

Meanwhile, over 50 journalists representing newspapers and television channels have brought to the notice of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan the Gujarat police action refusing journalists entry into the police headquarters in Ahmedabad.

Their letter said: "The issue relates to preserving press freedom in Gujarat that has seen an executive clampdown on its independence." Since May 1, reporters from all print and electronic media, including those accredited to the Gujarat Government, had been denied entry inside the premises of the Police Bhawan.

The letter said: "The journalists were told at the gates that this has been done at the express instructions of Director-General and Inspector-General of Police P.C. Pande. We have valid reasons to believe that this has been done to prevent us from carrying out our professional duties in the coverage of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case directly being monitored by the Supreme Court."

The signatories sought the immediate intervention of the Chief Justice to ensure that the journalists were allowed to perform their professional duties.

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