Political storm brewing on fake encounter case

Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat is heading towards a political storm which started brewing after the arrest of two of its IPS cadre police officials along with one from Rajasthan in the case of the fake encounter of one Sohrabuddin Sheikh who was shot dead in an encounter in November 2005.

The Congress in Gujarat has already demanded the resignation of Amit Shah, home minister in Gujarat, But trouble for the Narendra Modi government does not end here as one IPS official from the BJP-ruled Rajasthan has also been arrested and this is likely to tar the image of Vasundara Raje government.

The Raje government is apparently making efforts to avoid any involvement in this high profile encounter case.

The opposition from within the party may become a major problem for BJP in Gujarat as the assembly polls are just round the corner in the state.

Meanwhile, the metropolitan court in Ahmedabad today remanded three IPS officers - DIG (border range) D G Vanzara, SP (intelligence bureau) Rajkumar Pandian and SP M N Dinesh (Rajasthan IPS official) for seven days' police remand.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K J Upadhyay on Wednesday remanded these three IPS officers indicted in the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin by police in November 2005.

On the other hand in a bid to save the Rajasthan police official, Home Minister of Rajasthan, Gulabchandra Kataria, DG Rajasthan Police V S Gill and Principal Secretary Home Rajasthan rushed to Gandhinagar this morning and met Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah and DGP P C Pande.

Later Kataria defended his officer Dinesh against Gujarat police action before the media. Kataria said that Dinesh was an honest officer and he cannot be involved in the encounter.

Meanwhile, grabbing the opportunity Gujarat Congress President Bharat Solanki and leader of state legislative assembly Arjun Modhwadia demanded the resignation of state's home minister Amit Shah. They accused the Modi government for its chief minister's criminal psyche.

Sohrabuddin was killed by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter on November 26, 2005. The Gujarat government had accepted this before the Supreme Court.

The encounter was a joint operation of the Gujarat and Rajasthan police. The police claimed Sheikh was a Lashkar-e-Toiba mercenary and he was shot dead while trying to escape near Vishala Circle in Ahmedabad.

Soon after the encounter which has turned out to be fake, Sohrabuddin's brother Rubabuddin had filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the encounter was fake and he wanted to know where his sister-in-law Kausar Bi was. Just after Sheikh got killed, his wife Kausar Bi had gone missing.