Former Gujarat top cop D.G.Vanzara gets bail in fake encounter case

The Bombay High Court Thursday granted bail to former top police officer of Gujarat D. G. Vanzara in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case.

Vanzara, an IPS officer of Deputy Inspector-General rank was arrested April 24, 2007 and spent over seven years in jail.

Besides Vanzara, two other Gujarat IPS officers, M. N. Dinesh and Rajkumar Pandian were nabbed in connection with the alleged fake encounter death of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh who was accused of having links with the terror organisation Lashkar-E-Tayiba (LeT).

Sheikh's wife Kausar Bi is also alleged to been eliminated by the Gujarat police.

Ordering Vanzara's release on a bail of Rs.two lakh and one surety, or a bond of Rs.one lakh and two sureties of the same amount, Justice A. M. Thipsay also directed him to surrender his passport to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Vanzara has also been ordered to present himself before the trial court here thrice a week--every Monday, Wednesday and Friday-- till the case hearing is completed. He has also been warned against tampering with evidence or threatening witnesses.

The CBI, which probed the case, said that Sheikh and his wife were picked up by Gujarat's Anti- Terrorist Squad when they were travelling from Hyderabad to Sangli (Maharashtra).

They were later killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005.

An eyewitness to the encounter killing Tulsiram Prajapati was also allegedly gunned down by the Gujarat police in another fake encounter at Chhapri village in Banaskantha district in December 2006.

However, though granted bail, Vanzara will not be enlarged since he is an accused in the Tulsiram Prajapati case and the killings of Thane college student Ishrat Jahan and her three friends, also in a fake encounter.

Nineteen-year-old Ishrat Jahan and her three friends--Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - who were alleged to be LeT activists, were gunned down June 15, 2004 by the Ahmedabad Police for allegedly conspiring to assassinate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI had charge-sheeted 37 accused persons in the case including then Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, who is now the Bharatiya Janata Party president, and several other police officers.

Some of the accused in these cases, including Amit Shah have been granted bail in the past.

The Supreme Court had transferred the case from Gujarat to Mumbai to ensure a fair trial followed alleged threats to witnesses in the neighbouring state.