Geetha Johri report speaks of "collusion of State government"
Neena Vyas
Geetha Johri, IGP
NEW DELHI: The report on the Gujarat fake encounter
killings submitted by Inspector General of Police
Geetha Johri speaks of "the collusion of
[the] State government in the form of Shri Amit
Shah, MOS for Home." It says the episode
"makes a complete mockery of the rule of
law and is perhaps an example of the involvement
of [the] State government in a major crime."
Ironically, while the Gujarat government has
been resisting a CBI investigation into the
murder of three innocent persons by a team of
police officers and policemen belonging to the
Gujarat and Rajasthan police, the Johri report
firmly recommends it: "The entire enquiry
should at once be entrusted to the CBI."
It is now clear that when all the facts ferreted
out by an independent and courageous senior
police officer and her team in the course of
an enquiry conducted at the instance of the
Supreme Court are disclosed, the Narendra Modi
government may not be able to escape blame for
three murders by Gujarat policemen. Sohrabuddin
Sheikh was killed in cold blood on November
26, 2005, three days after he and his wife,
Kausarbi, were seized from a bus on the Hyderabad-Bombay
Highway; a few days later, Kausarbi was taken
away in a Maruti car by policemen, killed, and
her body burnt; and Tulsiram Prajapati, a material
witness, was murdered in another fake `encounter'
on December 28, 2006.
The Hindu has a photocopy of the explosive
24-page report, "Facts of the Case,"
plus supporting documents, made available by
a privileged source within the Bharatiya Janata
Party. Following a letter sent to the Supreme
Court by the brother of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in
December 2005, the court forwarded the letter
petition to the Director General of Police,
Gujarat, who entrusted it to the Gujarat State
CID (Crime) IG, Geetha Johri, for enquiry. She
constituted a team of officers, including Police
Inspector V. L. Solanki for this Preliminary
Enquiry No. 66/2006 of State CID (Crime).
He submitted four interim inquiry reports,
dated September 1, 2006, December 7, 2006, December
15-16, 2006, and January 22, 2007, to the IGP.
Ms. Johri neatly sets out the facts relating
to the murders that are "prima facie established."
In Part B of the report, she records these "important
facts" relating to repeated attempts by
the accused and Mr. Shah to sabotage the enquiry.
The IGP and Mr. Solanki faced "no hurdle"
in their enquiry up to a point. "However,
as soon as the statements of witnesses pertaining
to confinement of Sohrabuddin and Kausarbi in
the Farm House of Shri Girish Patel at Ahmedabad
came to be recorded, it came to the knowledge
of Shri Vanzara and Shri Rajkumar Pandian [two
of the accused officers]. It is further learnt
that these officers brought the above facts
to the notice of Respondent No. 2, Shri Amit
Shah, Minister of State for Home, Government
of Gujarat."
The report states that Mr. Shah "brought
to bear pressure" on the enquiry process,
with the result that Ms. Johri was directed
to suspend the enquiry and the enquiry papers
were taken away from her "under the guise
of scrutiny." The report also links Prajapati's
"escape" from jail and subsequent
fake encounter death to the "stalled enquiry."
Mr. Shah even "directed Shri G.C. Raigar,
Additional Director General of Police, CID (Crime
& Railways) to provide him with the list
of witnesses, both police and private, who are
yet to be contacted by CID (Crime) for recording
their statement in the said enquiry. Such direction
of Minister of State for Home goes beyond the
scope of his office, was patently illegal and
apparently designed to provide the same list
to accused police officers ... so as to enable
them to take measures in their defence."
Mr. Shah's influence also led to Ms. Johri being
instructed "orally" not to register
a First Information Report. But this was not
all. Mr. Shah called a meeting of senior police
officers, including the DGP, at Circuit House,
Gandhinagar on January 30, 2006.
"In that meeting," the report says,
"he attempted to influence the Investigating
Agency into believing that Smt. Kausarbi was
not a lawfully married wife of Sohrabuddin and
that she might have run away somewhere. It is
reliably learnt that the Minister in [the] course
of [the] conversation with the senior officers
had admitted in a cavalier manner that Smt.
Kausarbi had been killed as well."
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/05/stories/2007050510410100.htm
