Sadiq Jamal encounter: High Court reserves order on CBI probe

DCB had claimed that Sadiq was a terrorist on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Tainted IPS officer D G Vanzara,who has already been arrested in connection with Sohrabuddin and Prajapati encounter cases,was the deputy commissioner of police at the DCB at the relevant time.

Sadiq’s brother Shabir had moved the petition through advocate Mukul Sinha,alleging that the encounter was staged and demanding a CBI probe. The petition was heard by Justice M R Shah who has now kept the order reserved.

Government Pleader Prakash Jani,who represented the state government in the case,had opposed the petition arguing that the petitioner had filed the petition at a belated stage. He also contended that if courts start ordering CBI probes in all encounter cases and order FIR against police officers,it would be highly demoralising for the state police dealing at present with terror threats.

Two policemen,P P Pandey and D G Vanzara,were also made respondents in the petition. Pandey was a joint commissioner of police at DCB at the time of the encounter.

Their counsels,J M Panchal and K J Sethna,had argued that the petitioner has the remedy available to lodge a complaint before the competent court and therefore,the HC should not exercise its extraordinary powers and order an independent probe.