Sohrabuddin case: Johri has a lot of explaining to do in her reply to SC

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Gopal Subramaniam had levelled allegations against Johri two days ago that she had “let down” the probe being monitored by the Supreme Court, by ‘conniving with the state to create false records.’

An accomplice of Sohrabuddin and Tulsi Prajapati, Sylvester comes from a well-to-do family from Bhopalnagar in Udaipur and is presently lodged in a jail in Udaipur. Sylvester is believed to be holding some crucial leads in connection with the fake encounter of November 26, 2005 and the subsequent murder of Kausarbi. “Though statements of his family members were recorded during the investigation, the CID never questioned Sylvester on grounds that he was missing,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

According to the Ahmedabad police records, Sheikh, Prajapati and Sylvester had stayed together at a house in Rasulabad in Shah-e-Alam between 1997 and 1999. A resident of the same area, Zahid Kadari, who works as a traffic inspector with the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) had stated this in his statement before a local magistrate in December 2005.

“Sohrabuddin, Prajapati and Sylvester were close friends and were always seen together during their days in Ahmedabad. Sohrabuddin used to stay under the alias Salim,” the source added.

On Thursday, Subramanian had raised doubts on Johari’s approach in the probe, which according to him had ‘a systematic collapse.’ He submitted before the Apex court that “Johri had sought permission to interview Tulsi Prajapati, who was accompanying Sheikh and his wife before they were picked up by a team of Gujarat Police on January 5, 2007, although it was believed that Prajapati was killed in another staged encounter in 2006.” This argument, was, however, countered by Gujarat’s counsels Hemantika Wahi and Sourav Kripal, who placed an affidavit saying that Johri had sought permission to interview Sylvester.

Incidentally, the CID charge sheet submitted before the city and sessions court here, does not have Sylvester’s statement. V P Atre, the special public prosecutor in the case, also confirmed this.

Sylvestor, along with five others, Prajapati and Ahmedabad-based Ramjan Hanif Qureshi, Noor Nathuji Ghoghari, Mahendrasinh Jhala and Yusuf Menon, were arrested by the Gujarat Anti Terror Squad (ATS) on December 12, 2005, less than a month after Sheikh was killed in a faked encounter.

The arrests were in connection with a December 2004 shootout on the office premises of two Navrangpura-based builders. The ATS had claimed that they had solved a Rs 1.25 crore extortion case carried out under Sohrabuddin’s direction.

While the Ahmedabad-based accuseds were arrested from their residences, Prajapati and Sylvester were brought to Ahmedabad on a transfer warrant from the Rajasthan Police. “The two were in an Udaipur jail in connection with the murder of one Hameed Khan Pathan alias Lala. Sohrabuddin was also an accused in this case,” said a police officer.

About a year later, while Prajapati was killed in another “police encounter” on December 28, 2006, near Ambaji in north Gujarat, Sylvester was said to be missing. “Sylvester was arrested again in connection with a theft case of Ambaji and is presently lodged in a jail in Udaipur,” said a CID (Crime) officer.