Sunil Joshi case: Spreading stain of a murder

Arrested following a confession by fellow-accused Harshad Solanki,Kataria denies being a part of the conspiracy to kill Joshi. Sunil Joshi gave Mehul,Raj (Solanki) and the others food,shelter,even employment. Why would they turn around and murder him? And if I too was involved in the crime,why would I rush to Dewas on hearing about the incident?

This,indeed,is one of the many questions plaguing an investigation that had been stalled for a long time before the arrest of Solanki by the Rajasthan ATS in November. Now the Dewas police along with top officials of the Madhya Pradesh ATS are working overtime to put final touches on the draft chargesheet in Bhopal.

Says Superintendent of Police of Dewas S P Singh: The chargesheet will be filed before expiry of the 90-day remand period of the three arrested accused. It will name the three,that is Harshad Solanki,Anandraj Kataria and Vasudev Parmar,(as accused) and the two remaining boys,Mehul and Mohan,as absonding accused. According to him,Kataria was a central figure in the conspiracy to kill the RSS leader.

THE DELAY

As the ongoing probe reveals the RSS workers and aides who surrounded Joshi,and who are now being charged with his murder,as a shadowy group,questions are also being raised about how they evaded arrest in the years preceding his killing.

While Joshi himself was among the 13 charged in the killing of Congress leader Pyare Singh Ninama and his son in Mhow,four of those who lived with him and are now wanted for his murder (Raj,Mehul,Rakesh and Ustaad) were absconders in the Gujarat Best Bakery case.

The Dewas police claim enough intelligence about the foursome that they were all part of the immediate family of Ustaad alias Jayant,with Rakesh being his son and the other two his nephews.

Officials of the team that investigated the Joshi murder earlier admit there could have been pressure to close the case in the BJP-ruled state. But with the Rajasthan ATS arresting Solanki,and with the Joshi case emerging as central in the probe into saffron terror,the Madhya Pradesh Police investigation too picked pace.

Senior Dewas police officials claim that it was day-and-night questioning and denial of sleep that caused Solanki and the other two arrested accused,Kataria and Parmar,to break down and confess.

Solanki,who reportedly confessed to pulling the trigger on Joshi,has told the police Kataria prepared others like Parmar for the job and helped Mehul obtain the weapon.

Says S P Singh,the Dewas SP: The motive,according to them,was the ill-treatment meted out to the Gujarat absconders. But we also suspect there was some squabble over the distribution of money. Kataria provided the getaway car for the culprits,which was registered in the name of his mother.

PILING PROOF

The investigating officer in the case,Vinod Kushwaha,says following the confessions,they have obtained sufficient corroborative evidence. We have call records that confirm the presence of the accused in Dewas and Indore at the time they have admitted to in their statements. We also have phone records to prove that the accused were closely in touch with each other minutes before the murder.

Another witness reportedly is Joshis cousin Ashwin,who has told police that after they travelled together to Dewas on hearing that Joshi had been shot,Kataria left him by the roadside and escaped along with Solanki,Mehul,Ustaad and Mohan.

Interestingly,while the police claim to have kept Ashwins statement in a sealed cover with the Judicial Magistrate First Class,who is hearing the case in Dewas,court records show otherwise. They list the only statement recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC kept in the Sunil Joshi file as that of a neighbour,Ramesh Badrilal Vishwakarma. The statement was recorded on December 10,after Solanki and the others had been arrested.

The Indian Express obtained Vishwakarmas mobile number from his brother,but it has continuously been on switched off mode.

JOINING THE DOTS

The links of Joshis murder to saffron terror plots,meanwhile,keep getting stronger. Joshis closest relative,18-year-old niece Chanchal,tells The Indian Express that it was Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh who removed Joshis suitcase and belongings from his house in Vikas Nagar shortly after his death. Several people have testified to seeing the Sadhvi at the hospital where the pracharaks body was taken.

Chanchal says several,important RSS leaders would visit their house when Joshi was there,including Ramji Kalsangra. When Joshis mother once needed to be taken to hospital after his death,it was Kalsangra who reportedly came to their house to take her.

Chanchal makes one more startling revelation. Days before he was killed,she says,her uncle had told her that he would surrender to the police for his role in the 2003 Ninama murders. Joshi had fled to Gujarat following the murders,and returned after the BJP came back to power in Madhya Pradesh.

I had overheard the family discussing that my uncle had decided he would surrender to the police in a month or two. He had also told my parents that he had very powerful connections in Dewas and would manage to get released from jail shortly after his surrender.

With Swami Aseemanand calling Joshi the logistical mastermind behind saffron terror in Malegaon,Mecca Masjid and Ajmer,and possibly the Samjhauta Express blasts,the CBI has filed an application seeking permission to interrogate Solanki,Kataria and Parmar.

The CBIs application,available with The Indian Express,also lists a fourth name,Shivam Dhakhad,a close Joshi aide who was arrested in Dewas a few months ago in connection with the murder of a sarpanch.