Four ATS cops remanded to judicial custody in fake encoutner case

Ahmedabad, July 7 (UNI) A local court today remanded four police officers, allegedly involved in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, to judicial custody.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K J Upadhyaya in his orders sent four policemen -- Himanshu Singh, Shyam Singh (both PSI Rajasthan Police), M L Parmar and Balkrishan Chaubey (former Dy S P and PI of Gujarat Police, respectively) -- to judicial custody after their police remand ended today.

The probing Gujarat CID had demanded further seven-days remand of PI Chaubey but the court rejected it.

During the proceedings of the court, Chaubey told the Court that while interroga on, he was tortured mentally as well as physically by the investigating officers.

Meanwhile, in a sudden development, former Gujarat ATS Police Sub-Inspector N V Chauhan, whose anticipatory bail was rejected by the court yesterday, surrendered before the court this evening.

It is believed that Chauhan was present when Sohrabuddin was gunned down by the Gujarat and Rajasthan ATS police officials in a joint encounter on November 26, 2005 after he was branded a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant.

Sohrabuddin was accused of trying to hatch a conspiracy to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while his wife Kausar Bi, who went missing after the incident, was also killed later.

The probing CID team suspects that Chauhan was involved in killing of Kauser Bi, at the farmhouse at Deesha town where she was kept after her husband was killed by the ATS, sources said.

The Gujarat government had admitted to the Supreme Court that Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter by police officials.

The CID team has so far arrested several police officials of the Gujarat and Rajasthan ATS force, including three top police officials namely D G Vanjara and Rajkumar Pandian, and Rajasthan Police SP, Dinesh Kumar for their alleged involvement in the case.

UNI