Eleven years after Sohrabuddin Shaikh’s fake encounter took place, a special CBI court here on Thursday discharged the 12th accused in the case.
The court said sanction was not taken to prosecute Rajkumar Pandiayan, the then Superintendent of Police of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team in Gujarat, headed by D. G. Vanzara, the then Deputy Inspector of Police, ATS. On August 25, the court had discharged the 11th accused Narendra Amin as there was lack of evidence to prosecute him. He was then the Deputy Superintendent of police, city crime branch, Ahmedabad.
When the CBI took over the case, its charge sheet stated that in 2005 Amin was in touch with Mr. Vanzara, Mt. Pandiayan and the then Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah, who was also discharged in the case.
Sohrabuddin belonged to the Jharnia village in Madhya Pradesh and had a criminal track record.
On November 23, 2005, he was travelling with his wife Kauser Bi from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra. En route, the ATS of the Gujarat police stopped the bus and took them away.
Three days later, a team led by Mr. Vanzara allegedly killed Sohrabuddin, claiming that he was a terrorist trying to attack the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Subsequently, a State CID report found Kausar Bi’s burnt body.