Ex-IPS DG Vanzara, accused in Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin encounters, given promotion by Gujarat govt post retirement

As per the notification issued by the state home department, a copy of which Vanzara tweeted on Tuesday night, he has been promoted as the IGP with effect from September 29, 2007.

Former IPS officer D G Vanzara, who was accused in the alleged fake encounters of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh and was later discharged in both the cases, has been given post-retirement promotion as the Inspector General of Police by the Gujarat government, six years after he retired from service.

Former Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat D.G. Vanzara who is on bail in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case addresses a press conference in Mumbai. (Photo: Bhushan Koyande/ Hindustan Times)

As per the notification issued by the state home department, a copy of which Vanzara tweeted on Tuesday night, he has been promoted as the IGP with effect from September 29, 2007.

Additional secretary to the state home department, Nikhil Bhatt, on Wednesday confirmed that his department has issued a notification about Vanzara’s promotion.

Vanzara, a 1987-batch IPS officer, had retired as the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) on May 31, 2014. He was suspended by the state government in May 2007 after his arrest in connection with the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Later, he was also made an accused in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

The former IPS officer was discharged in both the cases by special CBI courts, first in August 2017 in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case, and then in May last year in the Ishrat Jahan case.