Tulsiram Prajapati (File)
The Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) on Wednesday opposed the discharge application of Gujarat IPS officer Vipul Aggarwal before the Bombay High Court in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases.
Justice A M Badar is hearing a revision application filed by Aggarwal, challenging the trial court’s order of November 7, 2017, in which his discharge application was rejected. Last week, Senior Counsel Shirish Gupte, appearing for Aggarwal, urged the court to consider the depositions of witnesses who have recorded their statements on oath before the trial court. Gupte told the court: “This evidence on oath is going to be used by the trial court.”
According to the CBI chargesheet, on the instruction of former Gujarat DIG D G Vanzara, Aggarwal summoned ATS officer Ashish Pandya, who was on leave, to kill Prajapati in a fake encounter.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the CBI, opposed the discharge application of Aggarwal and told the court that Aggarwal’s role was different from the alleged role of Vanzara, who was discharged by the trial court. According to the CBI, Aggarwal had “intentionally destroyed” the leave record of co-accused Ashish Pandya, involved in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsiram Prajapati, as part of a criminal conspiracy. Sohrabuddin’s lawyer Dinesh Tiwari also opposed the discharge application of Aggarwal. Tiwari told the court that the statement of Pandya’s wife’s confirms that Pandya was on leave to celebrate his wife’s birthday. There is enough collaborative evidence to show the role of Aggarwal in calling Pandya back from leave, Tiwari told the court. Tiwari further said Aggarwal ‘s official duty was to “uphold the rule of law,” and not to “oblige his superior officers”.
The CBI chargesheet claims that “immediately after the murder of Tulsiram, Aggarwal, who was very close to Ambaji area, took a probationer Deputy SP Mayur Chavda to the scene of crime near Sarhad Chapri in his own vehicle. The way Aggarwal was explaining the incident, it was clear that he had already been to the scene of crime.” It also alleges he entered into a criminal conspiracy by destroying the evidence.