Fake encounter: Cong fears Vanzara may be liquidated

New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) The Congress today claimed that suspended Gujarat Police DIG D G Vanzara -- the main accused in the fake encounters case in Gujarat -- might be liquidated in a conspiracy being hatched by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his associates to polarise votes for the next Assembly elections.

''I have learnt from a reliable source that a conspiracy is being hatched by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and company to get Vanzara, who is facing trial for murder, killed by a Muslim and then organise Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujrat for polarisation of votes and consequent advantage in the next Assembly elections,'' Congress Spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi told mediapersons at a press briefing in the Parliament precincts.

''I am saying this with full sense of responsibility,'' he asserted, but refused to divulge his source.

Replying to a question, he said that, if necessary, the Congress would urge the Government to take preventive measures to see to it that riots were not instigated again in Gujarat.

Stressing that Vanzara should get due punishment under the law, Mr Chaturvedi said investigations into the fake encounters were on and this was likely to reveal many things. The root of the conspiracy to kill Soharabuddin, his wife and eye witness Prajapati lay in Rajastan, he added.

''Until and unless the law took its course in the matter, it would be premature on the part of the Congress to take any initiative,'' he said, in response to another question.

Claiming that as many as 21 fake encounters had taken place in Gujrat under the BJP government in the state, Mr Chaturvedi pointed out that the Congress had been raising this issue in the State Assembly and registering its protest, ever since the fake encounters took place there.

UNI