HC asks CBI to probe another encounter in Gujarat

In another setback to the state police, the Gujarat high court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged fake encounter of Sadiq Jamal Mehtar, who was killed by the Ahmedabad police in January 2003.

In another setback to the state police, the Gujarat high court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged fake encounter of Sadiq Jamal Mehtar, who was killed by the Ahmedabad police in January 2003.

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This is the third case of alleged staged encounter involving Gujarat police officials handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On the plea of Mehtar’s brother Shabir, justice MR Shah handed over the case to the CBI. In his petition, Shabir said police had picked up his brother and killed him in a staged shootout.

Justice Shah dismissed the government’s plea that Shabir’s petition, filed seven years after the incident, created issues of credibility. Crime never dies, the court said. The court also rejected the government’s plea to let the state-appointed special task force probe the case.

The Mehtar encounter was allegedly executed by a police team led by the then deputy commissioner of police DG Vanjara, who is in jail as one of the accused in the fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi.

The CBI is already probing the 2005 killings of Sohrabuddin and his wife. The probe into the 2006 encounter of Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsi Prajapati, reportedly a witness to his killing, is also with the agency. The Supreme Court had handed over the cases to the CBI.

The investigation into the 2004 encounter of Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan and three others is with the special investigation team established by the Gujarat high court.