6 encounters, a common thread

The Gujarat government8217;s admission in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case raises fresh question marks over at least half a dozen such

The Gujarat government8217;s admission in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case raises fresh question marks over at least half a dozen such 8220;encounters8221; in which either the Anti-Terrorist Squad or the Crime Branch claimed to have killed 8220;terrorists8221; who had come to Gujarat to target important leaders, including Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Six such encounters, in the last four years, took place while D G Vanzara was posted either with the Crime Branch or the Gujarat ATS.

Now posted as Deputy Inspector General, Border Range, Vanzara has proceeded on indefinite leave. Posted there on December 16, 2006, Vanzara went on a month8217;s leave on January 23, which he extended till March 13. Now, sources in the DGP8217;s office say, he has extended it for an indefinite period.

8226; December 28, 2006: Just days after Vanzara is posted as DIG, Border Range, Tulsiram Gangarm Prajapati is killed in Banaskantha 8212;- one of the three districts that falls under the Border Range 8212;- by the Special Operations Group of the Gujarat Police and Banaskantha Police. They said he was a member of the Sharif Pathan gang. Incidentally, an investigation by the CID Crime into Sohrabuddin8217;s case had said that Prajapati was the third person whom the ATS and Rajasthan STF had picked up along with Sohrabuddin and his wife in November 2005. He is believed to have been let off later.

8226; November 26, 2005: Sohrabuddin Sheikh is killed by the Gujarat ATS and Rajasthan STF, reportedly in Vishala, Ahmedabad. Vanzara, who heads the ATS at the time, holds a post-encounter press conference, attended by the entire media and TV news channels, and says Sohrabuddin was an LeT operative who had come to Gujarat to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi, at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim and Sharif Pathan. He also says that four days before the encounter, Sohrabuddin had gone to Hyderabad to establish ties with an LeT cell there. Sohrabuddin8217;s wife Kauser Bi has not been seen since the encounter.

8226; June 15, 2004: Four persons, including 19-year-old college student Ishrat Jehan of Mumbra, are shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Vanzara, who is Deputy Commissioner, Crime Branch, at the time, claims they were terrorists, planning to target Modi.

8226; January 13, 2003: Sadiq Jemal Mehtar, a native of Bhavnagar, is shot dead in Naroda. According to the Crime Branch, with which Vanzara is posted at the time, Sadiq was in the city to target Modi, apart from L K Advani and the VHP8217;s Pravin Togadia.

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8226; October 22, 2002 : 30-year-old Samirkhan Pathan, who had been picked up by the Crime Branch on September 27 that year for allegedly hatching a plot to kill Modi, is shot dead by police near Usmanpura Garden in an early morning encounter.