DAHYAJI GOBARJI VANZARA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Applicant is the Accused No. 1 in Sessions Case No. 177/13 which has been clubbed with Sessions Case Nos. 178/13, 577/13 and 312/14, pending before the Court of Sessions at Mumbai. The case arises out of R.C. No. BS-1/S/2010 dated 1st February 2010 registered with CBI SCB, Mumbai. The applicant was working as the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Anti-Terrorism Squad, in the State of Gujarat, at the material time. This Court had an occasion to deal with the bail applications filed by some other accused in the said case, and the facts of the case - which are by no means ordinary or usual - were noticed while dealing with such bail applications. The facts, for the sake of convenience may be mentioned almost in the same manner in which they were mentioned in the orders dealing with some of the bail applications filed by some other accused in this case.

(2.) The case of the Investigating Agency, in brief, is that the police officials of Anti Terrorists Squad (ATS), Gujarat, and Special Task Force, Rajasthan, entered into a criminal conspiracy to abduct one Sohrabuddin Shaikh from Andhra Pradesh in order to kill him. That the said Sohrabuddin Shaikh, who had some criminal background, was attempting to extort money from some powerful businessmen from Gujarat and Rajasthan who had approached political leaders for their protection. It was planned, by taking high ranking Police Officers in confidence, that Sohrabuddin Shaikh should be got killed and should be shown as having died in an encounter with the police. Pursuant to this conspiracy hatched, Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausarbi, and one more person - Tulsiram Prajapati - were abducted from Andhra Pradesh. Sohrabuddin and Kausarbi were brought to Ahmedabad by the Police Officials from Rajasthan and Gujarat. (Tulsiram Prahapati was, from Sangli, taken elsewhere and killed later on, and this was also projected as 'death in encounter'). Sohrabuddin and Kausarbi were confined in a farm house near Ahmedabad for sometime. Later on, Sohrabuddin was killed by the police. As preplanned, it was projected as if he had been killed in an encounter with the police. Preparations had already been made for lodging of a false First Information Report to the effect that Sohrabuddin had come to Ahmedabad for killing a prominent political leader, and that Sohrabuddin was to do this with the cooperation and help of Pakistan Based Intelligence Agency ISI, and Terrorist Outfit Laskar-e-Toyeba. A story was cooked up that since the police were in receipt of this information, they had kept a watch at a particular point on the road by which Sohrabuddin, as per the information received, was to come. That, when Sohrabuddin came to the said place on a motorcycle, he was asked to stop by the police, but he did not respond to the said call and opened fire on police. The police officers fired in retaliation, and in this firing, Sohrabuddin fell down on being hit by the bullets fired by the police.

(3.) A First Information Report to this effect viz. that a person who had come to kill a prominent political leader with the cooperation of the Pakistan Based Intelligence Agency etc., was killed in an encounter with the police, was lodged, as preplanned, by the Accused No. 7 Abdul Rehman PI, who was a member of team formed by the Rajasthan Police for killing Sohrabuddin, and had come to Ahmedabad with the other members of the said team viz. M.N. Dinesh, Superintendent of Police, PSI Himanshu Rajawat and PSI Shyam Singh Charan. This F.I.R. was registered with the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), Gujarat in respect of offences punishable under sections 120B IPC, 121 IPC, 121A IPC, 122 IPC, 307 IPC, 186 IPC, 24 of the IPC, vide C.R. No. 5 of 2005 of ATS Police Station. The said case was investigated into by Accused No. 4 Mukeshbhai Parmar, working as Dy. Superintendent of Police, ATS Gujarat, at the material time, who filed an abated Summary Report.