Travel company clerk gave CBI key info on Prajapati

The CBI theory runs counter to the conclusion of Gujarat Police’s probe into Prajapati’s killing that said the third man travelling with Sohrabuddin and Kauserbi was one Kalimuddin alias Nayimuddin,a former Naxal.

After their “abduction”,Sohrabuddin,Kauserbi and Prajapati were allegedly brought to Valsad where Abhay Chudasama was posted as Superintendent of Police. Chudasama is now one of the accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.

After Sohrabuddin’s elimination,Prajapati was taken to Udaipur in Rajasthan where the then Special Task Force (STF) chief Dinesh M N arrested him for the murder of Hamid Lala,an alleged extortionist.

After Prajapati’s arrest,Gujarat ATS chief D G Vanzara and some others had gone to interrogate him in police custody. At that time,Prajapati had protested the killing of his friend Sohrabuddin,saying the police had betrayed him. Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26,2005 and his wife was killed days later allegedly to destroy evidence. Vanzara had allegedly threatened Prajapati that he too would be killed if he spoke out about Sohrabuddin’s encounter.

The CBI reportedly found that the Gujarat Police had no plans to kill Prajapati till the time he filed a petition before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin filed a habeas corpus in the Supreme Court for the missing Kauserbi.

“It was after this that Amit Shah,Vanzara,R K Pandian and Dinesh MN decided to kill him,” sources said.

According to sources,Prajapati had told his jail inmate and friend Azam Khan about the threat to his life. Khan,in turn,informed his wife and mother and instructed them to accompany them in the train whenever they were to be produced before a court in Ahmedabad in connection with Popular Builders firing case in which they were accused.

By then,Prajapati,with the help of a literate prisoner,had made a representation before the NHRC,expressing apprehensions about being killed in a fake encounter.

Twice lukcy,he was trapped the third time

The CBI chargesheet says that Prajapati escaped death twice,once when his friend Azam Khan’s mother and wife were accompanying them in the train,and then for a second time in court.

On one of these trips,the Rajasthan policemen escorting him had reportedly told Prajapati that the Gujarat Police had plans to kill him in an encounter and that they (Rajasthan Police) had refused to comply. The police escorts had also asked him to protect himself.

Meanwhile,Prajapati sent messages through Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin to his cousin Kundan and friend Vimal from Madhya Pradesh to accompany him in the train whenever he was to be produced before a court in Ahmedabad.

In November 2006,Prajapati and Khan were to be taken to Gujarat for production in court by train from Udaipur. Khan’s wife and mother were present there at the station and Kundan and Vimal had reached there as well.

However,a Rajasthan Police team intercepted them at Udaipur Railway Station and took them to police station in the city where Dinesh MN met them. He told them he knew as to why they had come to Udaipur and allegedly beat them up severely before arresting them under Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substance Act.

The following day,Prajapati and Khan were produced before Ahmedabad Sessions Court where they created a ruckus saying they feared they would be killed.

The ruckus,according to CBI,put immediate plans to kill Prajapati on hold.

According to sources,CBI has stated in its chargesheet that while being taken to Ahmedabad from Rajasthan,Prajapati and Khan were being escorted by policemen in uniforms apart from an “undercover” team of Rajasthan Police which had done a recce of the entire train route.

On one such occasion,the police team had attempted to separate Khan and Prajapati. However,Khan’s mother and wife created a ruckus and foiled the attempt.

However,the police succeeded in killing Prajapati on December 28,2006. The CBI has also contested the Gujarat Police’s theory that Prajapati had escaped from the train. The probe agency reportedly found no evidence as to how Prajapati’s custody was given to the accused policemen and how he reached the spot of “encounter”.