Gujarat pledges to cooperate in Sohrabuddin case probe

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government Tuesday said it would offer all cooperation in the probe into the killing of Ujjain resident Sohrabuddin Sheikh, which has now been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Supreme Court Tuesday transferred to the CBI the probe into the killings of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi by a Gujarat police team in November 2005, and divested the state police of the investigation.

State Tourism Minister Jaynarayan Vyas, who is the government spokesperson, said the decision in no way cast aspersions on the impartiality of the state government or the ability of its investigating agencies.

“No state can afford to demoralise its investigating agencies. This is just one case. There are many others in which the investigating agencies of the state have acquitted themselves commendably. The state government will study the order and do what the apex court expects it to do,” Vyas said.

State Congress president Siddhartha Patel and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil, however, welcomed the apex court decision to entrust the probe to the CBI.

“There was a long pending demand for handing over the investigations to the CBI and we hope that the real truth behind these encounters would now be known,” Gohil said.

Sohrabuddin was allegedly shot dead by a Gujarat police team on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in November 2005. Soon after, Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi went missing. It was alleged that his wife and the couple’s friend Tulsiram Prajapati, who too was a witness to Sohrabuddin’s killing, were also killed by the police to destroy evidence.

Deputy Inspector General D.G. Vanzara had, soon after the killing, claimed that Sohrabuddin was a Lashkar-e-Taiba terroris, and was killed in a police shootout.