Nine accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, who were lodged in a city jail, were today sent to Mumbai under heavy security for their production before the special court there on November 23.
Later, they all will be sent to a jail in Maharashtra, as per the decision of the special CBI court in Mumbai, before which they will be produced.
The nine accused, including suspended IPS officers D G Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh M N, were this morning taken under heavily armed security escort, ending uncertainties surrounding the issue of their transfer to Mumbai jail, following the Supreme Court order to shift the trial in the case to Maharashtra.
Two other accused in the case, Abhay Chudasama and N K Amin, have sought exemption from their production on health ground and hence they are unlikely to be produced along with their co-accused, sources said.
Suspended IPS officer Mr Chudasama has been lodged in Nadiad Jail, while Mr Amin has been in Vadodara Central Jail for almost past two years.
The jail authorities here had arranged the escort team of 52 personnel under DCP Mayaksinh Chavda, an ACP, four police inspectors, six police sub-inspectors and 20 ‘Chetak’ Black Cat Commandos and 20 police constables from Special Operation Group(SOG) and Crime Branch.
Mr Vanzara and Mr Pandian were sent in separate vehicles.
“Vanzara had been given Z+ category security and hence he has been sent into a separate vehicle looking at his security aspect,” jail superintendent R J Parghi to PTI.
On September 27, the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer of the case to Maharashtra after CBI submitted that witnesses were being intimidated and a free and fair trial was not possible in Gujarat.
