Gujarat cops do it second time: kill a prime suspect

Even the police versions of the encounter are similar. Pathan was, exactly like Khan, ‘‘attempting to flee after snatching a police weapon.’’ He was surrounded by policemen—seven as compared to Khan’s 16. And interestingly, not one policeman was injured in either incident.

Pathan, who had a string of petty theft cases against him—four cases of chain snatching and one of bicycle theft—was remanded to judicial custody on October 16 after completion of his police remand.

Yesterday, the Crime Branch obtained a transfer warrant and arrested him for a case dating back to 1996 related to the murder of a constable.

Police claimed that at 1.55 am today, Pathan was taken to the Usmanpura garden to ‘‘recreate’’ the constable’s murder.

There, police say, he snatched Inspector Kishoresinh Waghela’s revolver and fired two rounds. Waghela said he ducked and escaped. Inspectors Tarun Barot and A A Chauhan fired at Pathan—Barot fired two rounds, hitting him on the chest and Chauhan fired one bullet in his left temple.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) P P Pande has asked Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) S S Chudasama to investigate.

The unusual hour at which Pathan was taken to the spot has raised eyebrows. Senior Gujarat High Court lawyer Girish Patel said there’s no law which requires taking an accused to the spot, that too for a crime committed six years ago.

‘‘This is the police story in every encounter. There is no justification,’’ he said.

When asked, why the ‘‘re-enacting’’ was done at night, Pande said: ‘‘Had he been taken during the day, he could have injured others. He was a trained militant and could do anything. We did not want to take chances.’’ The claims of the police regarding Pathan have several discrepancies:

• On October 17, Joint Commissioner Pande told The Indian Express: ‘‘We are yet to establish the (Modi) conspiracy and who all were part of it.’’

• No weapon was recovered from Pathan during his arrest. Nor was any weapon found after his arrest which could be linked to him. Despite this, he was booked for procuring arms to wage a war against the state.

• DGP K Chakravarthy declared that Pathan’s arrest had nothing to do with the September 24 strike on Akshardham but it was the conspiracy to kill Modi that he was accused of.

• But the remand application to the Judicial Magistrate First Class on October 3, submitted by Police Inspector J G Parmar does not mention a word about the Modi conspiracy.

Instead, it seeks remand on the grounds that in light of the Akshardham attack on September 24, Pathan’s links with the two slain terrorists of Tehrik-e-Kisas have to be investigated.

And claims that the two slain militants could have received training at the same PoK camp where Pathan allegedly received training.