Prajapati killing: As CBI snapped at its heels,CID began hotfooting & fell flat

The CID gave a clean chit to former Minister of State for Home Home Amit Shah,who was not mentioned in its chargesheet in the Tulsiram encounter case at all. The agency,however,booked seven police officers including the then Banaskantha SP Vipul Aggarwal,sub-inspector Ashish Pandya and four other policemen who were a part of Banaskantha SOG. The chargesheet mentioned the names of D G Vanzara,Dinesh M N and Rajkumar Pandian,all three police officers who are accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case,but did not show them as accused in the Tulsiram encounter case.

However,the CID filed a supplementary chargesheet the next day (August 1) in which it Vanzara,Dinesh and Pandian for conspiring in Prajapati’s encounter.

Tusliram Prajapati was killed in an encounter in Chapri village near Ambaji in Banaskantha in December 2006.

The Banaskantha SOG,then headed by Vanzara,claimed Prajapati was killed in retaliatory firing by SOG while he was trying to escape from its custody.

The CID chargesheet cited forensic reports,medical records,circumstantial evidence and videography of the reconstruction of events,including two CDs and statements of 137 witnesses,to back its claims.

CID investigation in Prajapati case: The highs and lows
* It made the first arrest only after the CBI took over the Sohrabuddin encounter case,could never come clear on the motive for Prajapati’s killing
* CID rested its crucial evidence based on phone call records between former home minister Amit Shah and accused cops submitted by Geetha Johri,who was investigating the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case before it was handed over to CBI
* Tulsiram had in an affidavit in Udaipur court expressed fears that he would be killed too in Gujarat while he was jailed after Sohrabuddin’s encounter
* The owner of the white car in which Tulsiram was taken from Ahmedabad to Ambaji where he was killed is still not known
* It still remains unknown who placed the revolver near Prajapati’s body and who owns the revolver

Two encounters,two agencies and a band of dirty harrys
NOV 21,2005: Sohrabuddin,his Kauser Bi and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati picked up from a bus going towards Sangli from Andhra Pradesh by Gujarat Police
NOV 26,2005: Sohrabuddin shot dead near Vishala Circle by Gujarat ATS,which claimed he was out to kill CM Narendra Modi and VHP’s Pravin Togadia
NOV 29,2005: Kauser Bi killed and her body disposed of
JULY 2006: Following Supreme Court orders,the State CID Crime begins investigations
DEC 28,2006: Tulsiram killed in an encounter at Chapri Village in Ambaji
APRIL 25,2007: Cops D G Vanzara,Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh MN arrested for their role in Sohrabuddin’s encounter
JAN 12,2010: CBI handed over the Sohrabuddin case investigation on SC orders
MAY 2010: State CID Crime gets permission from Danta court in Banaskantha to probe the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter
MAY 3,2010: CID arrests Dahod SP Vipul Agarwal
MAY 4,2010: CID arrests four Banaskantha SOG policemen
MAY 13,2010: ACB Inspector Ashish Pandya surrenders before CID
MAY 17,2010: Prajapati’s mother Narmadabai demands CBI probe
MAY 30,2010: CID hands over Prajapati encounter papers to CBI,which had demanded it for the Sohrabuddin case probe
JULY 7,2010: CID gets custody of Vanzara and Dinesh
JULY 19,2010: Court rejects CID plea for narco tests on Vanzara and Dinesh
JULY 31,2010: CID submits chargesheet in Danta court,three and half years after the encounter Aug 1,2010: CID files a supplementary chargesheet,names Vanzara,Pandian and Dinesh as accused too
December 12,2010: Supreme Court stays CID probe into Tulsiram Prajapati case