Transfer of probe officers galore in Sohrabuddin case

The latest name in the transfer list is that of Inspector P B Jadeja. He has been transferred to the Ahmedabad Police Commissionerate. Jadeja, who was given his transfer order on September 29, joined his new office on Friday. However, he is yet to get a posting in the city.

Abrupt transfer of the officers involved in the probe is not new. The investigation, which was initially being supervised by Inspector General of Police Geetha Johri, was suddenly handed over to her deputy Rajnish Rai in March 2007.

A ‘firebrand’ Rai, who got the IPS trio of D G Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and suspended Rajasthan SP Dinesh MN arrested within a month of taking over the case, was shunted in the first week of May 2007. This came a day after he moved an application before the then Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, K J Upadhyay, seeking permission to conduct narco-analysis test on the three. A few hours later, Johri was told that she was back in the case, and has been heading the investigation since then.

Among investigators, Inspector V L Solanki was transferred to the Economic Offence Wing of the CID (Crime) before his retirement. Inspector R H Hadia, who replaced Solanki, also could not continue with the probe and was transferred to Surat city in March this year. Hadia’s senior, Deputy Superintendent of Police G B Padheria, who was supervising the probe, was transferred to the Police Research Cell (PRC) of the CID (Crime).

Before Hadia, Inspectors Y A Sheikh, T K Patel and O B Sharma were transferred to Civil Defence, Patan and Rajkot city respectively. IPS officer Raju Bhargav, who was assisting Johri in the case, was transferred to Mehsana in September 2007. Apart from Johri, the only investigator in the case now is Inspector D H Trivedi, who was transferred to the CID (crime) from Anand in April this year. The 10 policemen who are presently lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with the case are suspended IPS officers Vanzara and Pandian; suspended DySPs N K Amin and M L Parmar; suspended Inspectors N H Dabhi and V A Rathod; suspended Sub-Inspectors Balkrishn Chaube and N V Chauhan; and suspended Constables Santram Sharma and Ajay Parmar.

While all the police top brass refused to comment on the issue, Home Minister Amit Shah said he was not inclined to discuss the matter.