Tulsi Prajapati Case - SC orders CBI probe , Rejects Inquiry By Guj Police

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the fake encounter killing of Tulsiram Prajapati and mandated it to unravel the “bigger conspiracy” behind the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.
“We are satisfied that the investigation conducted and concluded in the present case by the Gujarat police cannot be accepted,” said a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan. Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Sathasivam said Gujarat police probe into Prajapati fake encounter case did not inspire confidence and filing of chargesheet would not preclude a fresh investigation by the CBI. Accepting senior advocate K T S Tulsi’s arguments on behalf of the CBI, the court said: “In the light of the involvement of police officials of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, it would not be desirable to allow the Gujarat police to continue with the investigation.”
The CBI had alleged that Prajapati was abducted along with Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi by Gujarat and Rajasthan anti-terrorist squad with active help from Andhra Pradesh police on the night of November 22/23, 2005. Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter three days later and Kauser Bi was killed on November 28.
However, Prajapati was taken to Rajasthan and his arrest was shown there. He, like Sohrabuddin, was killed on December 28, 2006 allegedly in a conspiracy hatched by the police officials, politician and marble lobby. The court directed the police of three states to cooperate with the CBI.

Tulsiram Prajapati case: Will the CBI file a fresh FIR?


Ahmedabad: After getting the go-ahead from the Supreme Court (SC) to probe the Tulsiram Prajapati case, the CBI has begun investigation into the larger conspiracy behind the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter.
At the outset, CBI is faced with a dilemma, whether to lodge a separate FIR or to include Tulsiram encounter probe in the first FIR filed by the probe agency on February 1, 2010.
CID (crime) was investigating the case till date and already has filed a chargesheet. Three IPS officers — DIG D G Vanzara, SP Dinesh MN and Vipul Aggrawal — have been arrested in the case apart from nine other cops from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Though the chargesheet mentions another IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian as an accused, he has not been arrested. Vanzara, Dinesh and Pandian are already behind the bars in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
Sources said that both the cases are linked and many conspirators and accused of the Sohrabuddin case including former minister of state for home Amit Shah and IPS officer Abhay Chudasama may be arrested. Shah and Chudasama were arrested by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Shah had moved an application before the Supreme Court against the CBI plea to take over the Tulsiram probe. Shah had alleged that the CBI’s move is politically motivated.
CBI has an uphill task ahead because of many loopholes in the CID (crime) probe. While the CID chargesheet says that the Tulsiram encounter, much like the Sohrabuddin encounter, was fake, the investigators have failed to unravel the reason behind the fake encounter.
In November 2005, Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauserbi, and one more person were abducted from a bus headed from Hyderabad to Sangli. Sohrabuddin and Kauserbi were later killed in a fake encounter.
A year later, in December, 2006, at Chhapri village near Ambaji, Tulsiram was gunned down. The police story was that he had escaped from Rajasthan police’s custody and was killed in a subsequent encounter.