Gujarat cop seeks bail in Prajapati case

Vipul Agarwal, the jailed Gujarat IPS officer and an accused in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case, has sought bail from the Supreme Court alleging that the CBI has not been able to file chargesheet against him in the case despite his prolonged incarceration.

Vipul Agarwal, the jailed Gujarat IPS officer and an accused in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case, has sought bail from the Supreme Court alleging that the CBI has not been able to file chargesheet against him in the case despite his prolonged incarceration.

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The SC will hear his bail application on Wednesday.

CBI sources said the agency was on the verge of filing chargesheet in the case. “But the CBI has been saying this for the last several months. The SC handed over the probe to the CBI in April 2011 with an instruction to complete it in six months. But the probe is still incomplete,” said Agarwal’s counsel Sushil Kumar.

Agarwal was arrested in May 2010. “Our contention is that since the CBI has not been able to file chargesheet and my client is in custody for the last two years, he should be set free on bail,” said Kumar.

Prajapati, who was an aide of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, was a witness to Sheikh’s killing in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat Police. Prajapati was also gunned down in an alleged fake encounter on December 28, 2006 in Banaskantha. Agarwal was the police superintendent in Banaskantha district at the time.