No political leaders involved in fake encounter case: CID

Ahmedabad, July 12 (UNI) The Gujarat CID, which is probing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, has so far ruled out involvement of any political leaders in the case.

A senior officer involved in the probe on condition of anonymity told UNI here today that ''the CID team has so far not found any political linkage of either Gujarat or Rajasthan leaders in the case.'' The Gujarat CID has submitted its Action Taken Report (ATR) to the Supreme Court on July 3 in which all steps and progress made so far in the case have been mentioned, he said.

Sheikh, who was accused of trying to hatch a conspiracy to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was killed by a team of Gujarat and Rajasthan Anti-Terrorst Squad (ATS) officers in a joint operation in 2005. While his wife Kausar Bi, who went missing after the incident, was also killed later.

The Gujarat government had admitted to the Supreme Court that Sheikh 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 IPS officials -- D G Vanjara, Rajkumar Pandian and Rajasthan Police SP Dinesh Kumar for their alleged involvement in the case.

UNI