Sohrabuddin: Johri ‘let down’ probe, Subramaniam tells Supreme Court

Ironically, the SC in May 2007 had refused a CBI inquiry and accepted a plea from Subramaniam and the victims’ family to entrust the supervision of the probe to Johri — they had argued that she was deliberately removed by the Gujarat Government to protect senior police officers — D G Banjara (DIG), Raj Kumar Pandiyan (SP) and Dinesh M N, a Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer.

Now, however, Subramaniam claims that there was a systemic collapse in the probe, which needs to be examined. Raising doubts about Johri’s approach, he said she sought permission to interview Tulsiram Prajapati, who was accompanying the alleged gangster Sohrabuddin and his wife when they were picked up from a bus before being killed. Although it is believed that Prajapati was killed in another staged encounter in 2006, the ASG said that Johri wrote a letter to her seniors on January 5, 2007 seeking permission to interview him.

However, this argument of the ASG was countered by Gujarat’s counsel, Hemantika Wahi and Sourav Kripal, who placed an affidavit saying that Johri had sought permission to interview Sylvester, an acquaintance of Prajapati. She did so, they said, as part of her investigation.