Police to seek court nod to attach properties of six cops

Vadodara: Even as seven teams consisting a total of 35 policemen have failed to trace six cops involved in a custodial death, the department has now decided to attach the properties of the runaway cops.
A police inspector, a sub-inspector and four lok rakshak dal (LRD) jawans of Fatehgunj police station are facing charges of murdering a 62-year-old man named Sheikh Babu Nishar, who was brought to the police station as a theft suspect in December last year. The seven teams have been clueless about their whereabouts for the past fortnight.
The attachment move is aimed at putting pressure on the accused to surrender themselves and face the trial.
The accused disappeared in the first week of July after an FIR was lodged against them, causing a major embarrassment to the police department.
The Gujarat high court recently directed the city police to book the accused cops for murder.
Neither the cops have been traced nor Sheikh’s body which they are suspected to have disposed of.
“We will soon move the court and file a petition for attaching properties of the accused cops. Their movable and immovable properties will be attached. We have already begun identifying their properties. They can’t remain absconding for a long time,” said a senior police official. Once they get legal permission, the department plans to first attach houses of the accused.
While accused police inspector Dharmendrasinh Gohil’s home is in Palitana; PSI Dashrath Rabari is a resident of Kheda; LRD Yogendrasinh Jilansinh has his home in Sabarkantha; Rajesh Savjibhai is from Morbi; Pankaj Mavji belongs to Amreli and Hitesh Shambhu is from Bhavnagar.
Police said that it has urged family members of the cops to convince them to surrender.
“Our teams have also visited other states to get clues about their whereabouts,” said Anupam Singh Gahlaut, city police commissioner.