Other States - Gujarat   

One more police officer held in Sohrabuddin case

AHMEDABAD: One more police officer of the Gujarat cadre has been arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

Police inspector V.A. Rathod, who is alleged to be involved in the burning of the body of Sohrabuddin’s wife, Kauserbi, and helped in the disposal of the remains to wipe out the evidence, was the 14th accused police officer to be arrested in connection with the fake encounter case.

Rathod was earlier named a witness by the CID (Crime) investigating into the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case but the Gujarat High Court disagreed. The High Court, in its order, directed the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court to name Rathod an accused and put him in the judicial custody along with other 13 accused, including the former Deputy Inspector General of Police, D.G. Vanzara, the prime accused in the case.

Rathod had sought time before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court for surrendering on the ground that the High Court’s order to treat him as an accused had been challenged in the Supreme Court. But Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K.J. Upadhyaya disallowed his petition because the apex court while fixing the next hearing in the case on July 15 did not grant any stay to the High Court’s order. Rathod accordingly surrendered before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and was sent to the Sabarmati central jail.

Mr. Upadhyaya also rejected Rathod’s bail plea as well as his request to send him to any jail other than the Sabarmati jail, if arrested, apprehending threat to his life from the other accused lodged in the same jail as he had earlier agreed to turn approver. In his bail application, Rathod claimed that the charges against him could at best be of criminal conspiracy or giving false information to protect an offender, which were bailable offence. But the court rejected it on the ground that he was named one of those who was a party in the disposal of Kauserbi’s body by one of the accused.

The CID (Crime) had initially included Rathod as one of the accused and sought his arrest warrant but later decided to give him the status of a witness. Rathod lost the case in the High Court on the ground that the police had no authority to change the status of an accused to witness and allow him freedom outside the jail.

Rathod, in a signed statement on June 21 last year, had admitted that he had gone to Illol, the native village of Vanzara in Sabarkantha district, where Kauserbi’s body was allegedly disposed of, but claimed that he was not present when her body was allegedly burnt. Several of the accused, including Mr. Vanzara himself, had petitioned before the High Court that Rathod should be named an accused and not a witness.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

One more police officer held in Sohrabuddin case

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu