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CID files chargesheet in Tulsi Prajapati encounter case

July 30, 2010 13:59 IST

The Gujarat Central Investigation Department filed a chargesheet against seven policemen, including an Indian Police Service officer, in the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case, in a court in Banaskantha district on Friday.

IPS officer Vipul Agarwal, who was the superintendent of police of Banaskantha when the encounter took place, is among those chargesheeted.

Prajapati, a key witness in the 2005 fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and alleged murder of his wife Kausar bi, was killed in an encounter in Chapri village near Ambaji in Banaskantha in December 2006.

The over 1,000-page chargesheet includes statements of 137 witnesses too.

In May this year, the agency had arrested Agarwal, who was posted as Dahod SP from Ahmedabad, constables Jathubha Solanki from Patan and Vinod Limbachiya from Palanpur.

Three other constables -- Karansinh Sisodia, Kanji Kutchi and Kiransinh Chauhan -- were also arrested subsequently from Siddhpur in Patan.

 A police inspector Ashish Pandya, who had allegedly shot Prajapati, was later arrested by the CID.

Pandya was a sub-inspector at the time of encounter and was promoted to the rank of inspector in April and transfered to Rajkot Anti Corruption Bureau.

All the arrested have been booked for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and murder.

For interrogation, the CID had got transfer warrant of the two suspended IPS officers, D G Vanzara and Dinesh M N, who were lodged in the Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad in connection with the Soharabudddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

At the time of Prajapati's encounter in November 2006 Vanzara was border range inspector general of Gujarat, and Dinesh was the SP of Udaipur, Rajasthan.

While they were in custody, CID had sought permission from Danta court for narco test on the two, saying they were not co-operating with the investigation.

However, their plea for naco analysis test of the suspended IPS officers was rejected by the court as the accused refused to undergo the test.
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