MUMBAI: The actions of
Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh MN to the 2005
Sohrabuddin Shaikh ‘fake’ encounter, were all “official” and in “line of duty’’ and nothing links him to the alleged conspiracy, said his counsel Raja Thakare as he concluded his arguments on Wednesday before Justice A M Badar of
Bombay high court in an appeal against the trial court dropping him from the criminal case.
But, Shaikh’s brother Rubabuddin’s counsel Gautam Tiwari rebutted his plea of innocence by citing witnesses whose statements he said must be considered as they implicate Dinesh MN in the conspiracy.
Tiwari argued that the Rajasthan officer, then a superintendent of police (SP) was instrumental in changing an escort party before the alleged encounter in 2005 of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife and Tulsiram Prajapati. He relied on statements of Gujarat police personnel that an SP was spotted at the site of offence.
Rubabuddin has challenged an order of trial court discharging Dinesh MN and two other police officers--former deputy inspector general of Gujarat, DG Vanzara and Raj Kumar Pandian in the case. The prosecuting agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appealed against the discharge of two other police officers, NK Amin and Dalpat Singh.
On bail since May 2014, Dinesh had been promoted by the Rajasthan government to the post of Deputy Inspector General and then Inspector General with effect from May 9 the same year. He had served seven years in jail in connection with the alleged fake encounter killings.
The CBI chargesheet had said police officials of Gujarat and Rajasthan had entered into a conspiracy to kill gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and abduct his wife Kauser Bi in 2005.
“There is absolutely no iota of material as when, where and who killed Kausar Bi. There is also no material collected from the spot like sand, ash etc to say that her body was burnt,” the CBI Judge had said while discharging Dinesh MN and Vanzara on August 1, 2017. The CBI’s claim was that her body was burnt after killing.
The hearing before the HC is going accused by accused. Thakare argued that Dinesh’s visit to Gujarat was in official capacity, cleared by IG and DGP Rajasthan. He had used government vehicle and stayed in a government guest house in November 2005.
He also said that barring one witness who talks of “seeing Udaipur SP” at the crime scene, the evidence doesn’t match up as there were only two vehicles with five persons inside each and Dinesh was not among them. There was no identification parade conducted, nor was any witness identifying him as the SP he saw. There is no direct eye-witness against Dinesh and the alleged phone calls between him and VAnzara based on Vanzara’s call data records prove nothing since Dinesh used to be in touch with nodal agencies as the area under his jurisdiction was a border area. “It was not a clandestine call’ and without knowing its contents, cannot ascribe conspiracy connections to it, Thakare argued.
“It is seen from the entire record...that there is no sufficient evidence to indicate that there was a meeting of minds between accused (Vanzara) and the other accused to abduct and kill (Sheikh, Kausar Bi and Prajapati),” the court had held. “In the absence of evidence of their involvement in any manner in the abduction followed by the killing, I am of the view that role attributed against the accused as reflected does definitely come within the sphere of discharge of their official duty,” the court had said.
The arguments of Tiwari, rebutting Thakare will continue on Thursday.
