Supreme Court’s intervention in the matter of cold-blooded murder of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, on November 25, 2005, and the subsequent CID report, has lifted the lid from another heinous crime committed by IPS officers D.G. Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh M.N. Mr. Vanzara is known as the blue-eyed boy of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is known as the man behind the infamous Gujarat massacre 2002. Modi was condemned by a large section of media for his role in the state sponsored anti-Muslim riots and his government was reprimanded by the highest court of the land. Maybe, the time for his reckoning has not yet come, but for some of his police officers’, it seems, it has come. Currently the Supreme Court is hearing a writ petition pleading that major cases of massacres in 2002 should be handed over to CBI for a thorough enquiry.
A thorough enquiry by CBI would bring out many skeletons hidden in the cupboard of Modi dispensation in Gujarat. Recent arrests, and the ongoing judicial proceedings confirm the widespread suspicion that most of the so-called encounters with alleged “terrorists” were fake.
Central Minister of Textiles Shankar Singh Vaghela, who hails from Gujarat has openly said that the alleged burning of S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express at Godhra might have been the handiwork of those who planned Gujarat massacre. This should not be forgotten that Modi used this incident for state-abetted massacre, adopted an openly partisan attitude and consolidated his position in the elections which followed. Mr. Vaghela also gave vent to his suspicion that Akshardham Temple attack also might have been stage-managed. He called for an independent enquiry into this also. The enquiry may reveal why all the attackers were done to death and why not a single person was caught alive to enable unearthing of the alleged conspirators behind it. CBI probe into this and all so-called encounters since 2002 would be in the fitness of things.
Sohrabuddin’s murder in the hands of high-ranking IPS officers proves that irresponsible cops, however highly placed they may be, can go to any length in undermining the rule of law to please their political bosses.
Mr. Vanzara along with colleagues hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Sohrabuddin. They have been charged with conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence.
The crime has all the ramifications of a crime film. The officials travelled to Hyderabad, sought the help of local police, got fake nameplates prepared for the vehicles they travelled in, and in a midnight operation near Sangli intercepted the bus in which Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were travelling. They brought them to Ahmedabad in private vehicles along with a third unnamed person, perhaps the police informer, Tulsiram Prajapati, who also appears to have been done away with as he was a witness to the crime. Subsequently, as accepted by big boss Modi’s advocates in Supreme Court, Sohrabuddin was eliminated in the early hours of November 25, 2005. The reports have indicated that Kauser Bi was kept in Vanzar’s friend Raju Zeerawala’s bungalow on Ahmedabad-Serkhez road. It has also been alleged that she was raped and murdered in the bungalow. Newspapers have brought out as to how Kauser Bi’s dead body was transported in a police van, how 400 kgs firewood was purchased, and how the body of the hapless woman was cremated. This has also been revealed that Vanzara has three palatial houses along with several benami properties. He is estimated to have assets worth 150 crore, quite unproportionate to his known source of income.
Need of the hour is a thorough enquiry by CBI. The role of Amit Shah, Minister of State Home Gujarat and that of chief minister Narendra Modi also should be brought under the ambit of enquiry as it is assumed that the fake encounters would not have been staged without sanctions from these high-ups.
No efforts should be spared to bring to book the culprits and their bosses, and no one should be spared however high he may be. This is a test case for Apex Court and our entire judiciary. If demands of justice are met in this case, it will send the much needed message that no one is above law, no one is allowed to take law in his hands and supremacy of law would be upheld at any price.