Cop wanted in Rs 3.75-crore extortion case surrenders before Kutch court for probe in Prohibition case

Kiritsinh is a resident of Gandhidham town of Kutch. He was posted as an ASI in the cyber crime police station of the Border Range of Gujarat police when Anil Pandit, a businessman from Mumbai who now lives in Kutch, filed an application with the office of inspector general (IG) of Border Range on June 27.

In his complaint, Pandit alleged that Kiritsinh, two other assistant sub-inspectors Ranveersinh Zala and Rajendrasinh Zala, and police constable Bharat Gadhvi extorted Rs 3.75 crore from him after intercepting a truck that had loaded a consignment of acreca nuts from a godown belonging to him in Mundra town of Kutch on April 13 this year. Pandit had also named Shaliendrasinh alias Bhanubha Sodha, a resident of Gandhidham who is the nephew of a late IPS officer who had served as IG of Bhuj range and Pankil Mohta, a Gandhidham-based businessman who, Pandit said, was his “friend”. Following Pandit’s application, the three ASIs and the constable named by Pandit were suspended from service. Apart from Kiritsinh, two other ASIs have been on the run since July, police officers say.

Bagmar, the SP of Kuth (east) police said that Kiritsinh was also wanted in a case registered under the Gujarat Prohibition Act at Bhachau police station in 2018. “While he was not named in the FIR, his name cropped up during the investigation of the case,” said the SP.

Chudsama said that an FIR was registered at Bhachau police station on January 5, 2018, after a team of officers of Bhachau police station conducted a raid in a deserted place near Budhamora and seized two trucks loaded with 12,768 bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) worth Rs 19.96 lakh. However, four persons who were transferring the liquor consignment from a truck bearing a registration number of Rajasthan to a dumper bearing a registration number of Rajkot district of Gujarat managed to run away. Police had seized 9,168 bottles of IMFL from the Rajasthan truck and 3600 from the truck registered in Rajkot.

“Investigations revealed that the dumper was sent by ASI Kiritsinh Zala to the crime scene to receive the IMFL consignment from the Rajasthan truck,” Chudasama said, adding, “He was therefore wanted in the case and we arrested him after he surrendered before a court in Bhachau.”

The LCB police inspector said that Kiritsin became the third accused to be arrested in the prohibition case.

Police said that Kiritsinh is a prime accused in the extortion case also. His surrender comes around three weeks after a designated Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Bhuj, Kutch declared him and three other policemen proclaimed absconders early this month. Police had arrested Kripalsinh Vaghela, son of Kiritsinh’s sister, on October 21 for his alleged involvement in the extortion case with investigators saying that he used to handle financial transactions of Kiritsinh and Sodha. Police have also arrested Mohta and Sodha and all three of them are presently in judicial custody.

“Kiritsinh is wanted in the extortion case and we shall move the court at the appropriate time to seek his custody,” Samat Varotariya, deputy superintendent of police of Tharad division in Banaskantha district, said.

Varotariya is the investigating officer of the extortion case registered against the four policemen.