From being the son of a landless labourer in Ilol village of Sabarkantha, DIG D G Vanzara rose to become a supercop — an “encounter specialist”. Today, he finds himself in the dock for allegedly faking an encounter. Having joined the state police force in 1980, Vanzara was elevated to IPS cadre in 1990. During his posting as Mehsana SP in the early ’90s, he was considered close to the then chief minister Chimanbhai Patel as well as home minister Naresh Raval.“He was known to carry out instructions effectively. In the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, he ensured that no untoward incident occurred in Mehsana, although there was violence in the rest of Gujarat,” said a senior police officer. But the controversies began after Vanzara was appointed DCP (Crime Branch) in Ahmedabad after the 2002 riots. This was the period when he earned the tag of being an “encounter specialist”, shooting dead over 10 terrorists. “Most of these encounters were never explained fully. Each time, he would say the police had pre-empted a plot to kill the Chief Minister or VHP leader Pravin Togadia,” said an officer. Vanzara was reported to be close to Modi.Take a look at some of the cases:• October 22, 2002: Samirkhan Pathan (30), who was picked up by the Crime Branch a month earlier on charges of plotting to kill Modi, was shot dead in an early morning “encounter”.• January 13, 2003: Sadiq Jemal Mehtar, a native of Bhavnagar, was shot dead in Naroda. The Crime Branch said Sadiq was in the city to target Modi, L K Advani and Pravin Togadia. • June 2003: Two persons were shot dead. Vanzara said the duo’s mission was to kill BJP leaders Ashok Bhatt and Bharat Barot.• June 15, 2004: Four persons, including a 19-year-old college student, Ishrat Jehan of Mumbra, were shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Vanzara claimed the four were terrorists and planned to kill Modi. • November 26, 2005: Sohrabuddin Sheikh is killed by the Gujarat ATS and Rajasthan STF. Vanzara claimed Sohrabuddin was an LeT operative who was in Gujarat to kill Modi, at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim and Sharif Pathan. Sohrabuddin’s wife Kauser has not been seen since then. This was the case that led to Vanzara’s arrest today.• Days after Vanzara was posted as DIG, Border Range, Tulsiram Gangaram Prajapati was killed in Banaskantha — one of the three districts that fall under the Border Range — by the Special Operations Group of the Gujarat Police and Banaskantha Police. The CID (Crime) probe into Sohrabuddin’s case found that Prajapati was the third person who had been picked up with Sohrabuddin and his wife in November 2005. He is believed to have been let off later.
