Mumbai: Rubabuddin Sheikh, the brother of alleged fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin, moved the Bombay High Court on Monday challenging the discharge granted to former Gujarat IPS officer D.G. Vanzara and Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh M.N.
On August 1, the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court discharged Mr. Vanzara and Mr. Dinesh from the alleged fake encounter case.
The CBI charge sheet had said that police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan had conspired to kill gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and abducted his wife Kauser Bi in 2005. Mr. Vanzara, who was then the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Anti Terrorism Squad, Gujarat, and Mr. Dinesh, who was then the Superintendent of Police, Rajasthan, are also charged with killing Tulsiram Prajapati, who was with Sohrabuddin.
Mr. Sheikh’s plea, filed by Advocate Gautam Tiwari, seeks that the order be set aside. It says, “He is aggrieved by the discharge order passed under Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that reads, after hearing the submissions of the accused and the prosecution in this behalf, the Judge considers that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused and record his reasons for so doing. He has filed a revision application and seeks for the said order to be set aside on the following grounds: there is insurmountable evidence against Mr. Vanzara which undisputedly proves the existence of a prima facie case against him.”
The plea says that not only did the lower court judge discard the testimony of more than 40 prosecution witnesses, but he also “completely ignored the irrefutable evidence on record”, such as the records of phone calls between Mr. Vanzara and the other accused.
Mr. Sheikh says instructing policemen to bring Sohrabuddin, Kauser Bi and Prajapati from Hyderabad; taking part in the fake encounters of Sohrabuddin and Prajapati, and the plot to kill Kausar Bi; intimidating witnesses; destroying evidence; and running an extortion racket cannot be said to be within the ambit of official duty. Hence, the protection under Section 197 (prosecution of Judges and public servants) of the CrPC was never available to Mr. Vanzara as contended and upheld.
The plea will come up before a single-judge bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai.
