The Bombay High Court Monday upheld the discharge granted by a trial court to ex-Gujarat ATS chief D G Vanzara and four others, all of them police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan, in the case of encounter of suspected gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife and aide.


The court held that the applications challenging their discharge were devoid of merit. Justice A M Badar also granted discharge to Gujarat police officer Vipul Aggarwal, a co-accused in the case related to the 2005-06 encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausarbi and their aide Tulsiram Prajapati. Aggarwal's discharge plea was earlier rejected by the trial court and he had approached the HC seeking discharge on grounds of parity with Vanzara. Justice Badar had conducted detailed daily hearings for about two weeks in July on the five revision pleas challenging the discharge of these officers, and the plea filed by Aggarwal.


In granting relief to former IPS officers Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and N K Amin of the Gujarat police, and Dinesh M N and Dalpat Singh Rathod of the Rajasthan Police, Justice Badar held that the applications challenging their discharge were devoid of merit. Sohrabuddin Shaikh's brother Rubabuddin had challenged the discharge granted in the case by the trial court to Dinesh, Pandian and Vanzara. -- PTI


Image: Sohrabuddin Sheikh.