This is an archive article published on April 3, 2016

Ishrat jahan case: Court allows ex-cop Vanzara to return home after nine years

Vanzara is confined to Mumbai as per the bail condition imposed first by Bombay High Court while granting him bail in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case

5 min readAhmedabadApr 3, 2016 10:32 AM IST First published on: Apr 3, 2016 at 01:23 AM IST

Former Gujarat deputy inspector general of police DG Vanzara, accused in Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter cases.

In a big relief to retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) D G Vanzara, a key accused in the Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter cases, a special CBI court on Saturday allowed him to return home to Gujarat. The court modified his bail condition in Ishrat encounter case that had confined Vanzara to Mumbai for the past one year.

Vanzara is expected to return home in Gandhinagar next week where a grand celebration is likely to be held. He will be returning home for the first time since his arrest on April 24, 2007 by CID (crime), led by IPS officer Rajnish Rai, in connection with the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in 2004.

Special Judge S J Raje pronounced the order, allowing Vanzara’s bail modification plea. The judge said that the condition of not entering Gujarat and staying within the confines of Mumbai had been removed. The court ordered that Vanzara will have to mark his presence every Saturday before the court. Vanzara’s lawyer, V D Gajjar, said that the court also “removed the condition stating that Vanzara has to maintain law and order which doesn’t apply to him since he is retired”.

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The CBI had filed one-page reply opposing the bail modification of Vanzara, stating that “the application is devoid of merit and may please be rejected outrightly in the interest of justice.”

As soon as the order was pronounced, Vanzara’s son Prithviraj “hailed judiciary”. “My father can come home now after nine years of long wait,” he saud. He added that there will be mega celebrations the day Vanzara returns home. “The family has suffered a lot due to the cases and several family functions were on hold for the past many years which will now be started,” he said. When contacted, Vanzara said, “By the grace of god and good wishes of friends I will be home after years.” Later, he tweeted, “2day Ahmedabad CBI court has cleared my entry into Gujarat. Now I will b able 2 go to my residence at Gandhinagar aftr 9 years. God is Great.”

Vanzara was confined to Mumbai as a condition of bail imposed by the Bombay High Court while granting him bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Later, the special CBI court also barred him from entering Gujarat while granting him bail in the Ishrat Jahan case in February last year.

Hailed as Gujarat’s “encounter specialist”, Vanzara was lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail, following his arrest in 2007. In November 2012, he was shifted to Mumbai’s Taloja jail after the Supreme Court shifted the trial of Sohrabuddin case. In June 2013, CBI arrested Vanzara in Ishrat Jahan case and brought him from Mumbai on transfer the warrant back to Sabarmati Jail. In September 2014, he was granted bail in Sohrabuddin case by the Bombay High Court and in February last year, he walked out of jail after the CBI special court allowed him bail in Ishrat Jahan case. Since then, he has been living in Mumbai.

Last month, the Bombay High Court lifted this condition and allowed him to leave Mumbai. However, due to the condition imposed in the Ishrat Jahan case, Vanzara had moved before Ahmedabad special CBI court. Vanzara filed for bail modification plea stating, “The applicant (Vanzara) is Z-category protected person and so far the Mumbai city is concerned, it is the native place of hardcore and internationally declared criminals like Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel and others who are facing red corner notices. The applicant while on service has booked such criminals and detected and unearthed the criminal conspiracies and their crime against the nation and the terrorists’ acts conspired or committed by them.”

The application also states that Vanzara has been suffering from “skin allergy disease and the doctors at Ahmedabad have advised him to avail home-made food with various changes in food items and on experiment basis so as to detect the allergenic food substance.” It further adds that Mumbai is not his home and home food is not possible. Vanzara also sought parity with his senior officer and co-accused DGP P P Pandey. He said in the application, “Charges levelled against him (Pandey) are either equal or more grave than the applicant. However, there is no condition of bail order of Pandey for not to enter Gujarat.”