CBI court grants bail to two more policemen

The court held that the defense lawyer’s arguments that Chudasma and Yadav had no direct role had been attributed to them by CBI. They didn’t have a role in bringing Sadiq from Mumbai and keeping him in illegal custody days before the encounter. Besides, the duo were not part of the shooting squad that gunned down Sadiq. The police had branded Sadiq as a member of Lashkar-e-Toiba who wanted to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi, VHP leader Pravin Togadia among other saffron leaders. Almost eight years after the encounter Sadiq’s brother Shabir moved Gujarat High Court that directed the CBI investigation.

In December 2012, the CBI chargesheeted eight policemen who were posted at the Detection of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad including retired DySP Tarun Barot for killing Sadiq in a staged police shootout in January 2003 in Ahmedabad. Barot was recently denied bail by the High Court. The case also involves several IB officials who served in Mumbai in 2003.

The CBI was to file a supplementary chargesheet naming several higher police officials in Gujarat and Maharashtra. However, even after two years the CBI remains silent on the role played the senior policemen and Mumbai-based former journalist Ketan Tirodkar whose affidavit first indicated that Sadiq was killed in a fake encounter.

Tirodkar was arrested by the CBI but was released on default bail after the probe agency failed to file the chargesheet against him in the stipulated period of 90 days since the arrest. Tirodkar’s role in the case remains a mystery.