Tags:
Journalism of Courage
With the Gujarat High Court dropping murder charges against all the 12 accused in the killing of Haren Pandya in March 2003,suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has said that according to his information,gangster Tulsiram Prajapati may have killed the BJP leader.
Prajapati,a close aide of Sohrabuddin Sheikh,was killed in an alleged fake encounter in December 2006. The CBI is investigating Prajapatis death.
According to Bhatt,during his tenure as the superintendent of the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad in 2003,Asghar Ali,the main accused who was also acquitted in Pandyas killing earlier this week,told him that Prajapati had killed Pandya.
Bhatt also alleged that suspended IPS officer Abhay Chudasama,who has been arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter,was involved in Pandyas killing. He said Asghar Ali told him that he was first contacted by Chudasama,Sohrabuddin and two others to kill Pandya.
Bhatt said he sent this information to the then Minister of State (Home) Amit Shah in November 2003,but no action was taken.
Bhatt was recently questioned by the CBI which is probing the Sohrabuddin and Prajapati encounter cases. Asked if he divulged this information to the CBI,Bhatt declined to answer. CBI sources,however,said he did not mention this when he was questioned.
