The Gujarat government has reinstated an Indian Police Service officer, who is an accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and given him a plum posting as Superintendent, DGP Vigilance Squad, according to a Gujarat State Home Department notification issued on Thursday midnight.
Abhay Chudasama, who spent four years in prison, is the first accused IPS official in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case to be reinstated by the Gujarat government. Earlier, the Gujarat government had reinstated IPS officer G. L. Singhal who is an accused in Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
As per a notification issued by the State Home Department on Thursday midnight, Mr. Chudasama, who was granted bail on April 28, 2014, has been reinstated as SP of Vigilance Squad in the DGP’s office, Gandhinagar.
Presently called the State Monitoring Cell, the squad works directly under the Gujarat DGP. However, popularly, the cell is still referred to as “DG Vigilance Squad”.
The post of a Superintendent of Police in the Monitoring Cell is considered as a powerful position, since the cell has powers to conduct raids anywhere in Gujarat state to curb crimes.
Mr. Chudasama, a 1999 batch officer, was >arrested by the CBI in April 2010 for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Allegedly, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi were abducted and killed in 2005, near Gandhinagar in a fake encounter.
