Gujarat IPS officer, R K Pandian (File)
GUJARAT IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan’s lawyer on Saturday told the Bombay High Court that Pandiyan was not involved in the abduction of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife and aide Tulsiram Prajapati in November 2005, and that the CBI had “fabricated” the case against him.
“According to the prosecution case, the abduction (of Sohrabuddin, his wife and Prajapati) took place between November 22-23. They have tried to prove that he (Pandiyan) never left on the flight to fit him in the time slot when the abduction took place and made a fabricated case against him,” said senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, who is representing Pandiyan. Jethmalani said Pandiyan took a flight from Hyderabad on November 23.
The lawyer representing Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin had argued that while there was a flight ticket booked on Pandiyan’s name from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad on the evening of November 23, 2005, the officer did not take the flight. Instead, constable Ajay Parmar travelled using the ticket, he has contended. He said an FSL report of May 2007 says the handwriting on a declaration card for Customs is not in the handwriting of Pandiyan, but of Parmar.
On Saturday, Jethmalani said while the declaration form on the flight was filled out by Parmar, it could have been filled by anyone. “But on an international flight your identity is always authenticated. It is impossible for the CBI to even suggest someone else was on the flight instead of him,” he argued. He said Pandiyan’s call records show he was in Ahmedabad on November 23.
Jethmalani referred to registers of AP Police Officers Mess and statements of witnesses to prove that Pandiyan stayed there from November 21 to November 23. The assignment of judges has been changed and revision applications will now be heard by Justice Nitin Sambre. Four of the five applications were heard by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere. Arguments on former Gujarat DIG D G Vanzara’s application were pending.
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