CBI court discharges two policemen in Sadiq Jamal fake encounter case

A CBI court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday discharged two policemen accused in the 2003 Sadiq Jamal fake encounter case. The court observed that there was no sufficient ground to proceed against them in the case.

Special Judge B.A. Dave allowed the discharge pleas of R.L. Mavani, a sub-inspector, and A.S. Yadav, a constable, who claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case.

The court held that their mere presence at the place of encounter, as alleged by the CBI, and that too in obeying the order of a senior officer, was not sufficient to charge them for Sadiq’s murder. The CBI has held that Sadiq was killed in a staged encounter in 2003.

The Gujarat High Court in June 2011 directed the city crime branch to file an FIR on the killing, and then transferred the case to the CBI.

In its chargesheet filed in December 2012, the CBI said the encounter was staged and was part of a pre-planned conspiracy under which the accused policemen took custody of Sadiq from their Mumbai counterparts on January 2, 2003, confined him to a bungalow in Shahibaug till January 13, and then killed him in a staged shootout.

The police had dubbed him a terrorist affiliated with the Pakistan-based LeT and was tasked with a mission to assassinate the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders.