3 IPS officers remanded to 7-day police custody

Ahmedabad, Apr 25 (UNI) The three IPS officers, arrested yesterday in connection with a fake encounter case, were today remanded to seven days police custody.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Gandhinagar K J Upadhyay remanded DIG D G Vanzara, SP Rajkumar Pandian and Alwar (Rajasthan) SP M N Dinesh to seven days police custody for killing one Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter in November 2005.

However, Gujarat police had sought 14 days remand for the accused.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, alongwith top officials, reached Gandhinagar this morning and met Gujarat Home minister Amit Shah and DGP P C Pande.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Kataria questioned the legality of the arrest of the Rajasthan police official and defended the Alwar SP, claiming he was a ''very honest officer''.

''We will gather information about the case and discuss the matter with our Gujarat counterparts,'' he said adding the track record of the SP was ''good''.

He also said he would gather more details about the officer's role in the November 26, 2005, encounter in which Sohrabuddin Sheikh was shot dead after being ''identified'' as an LeT militant, who was in Gujarat to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

UNI