Court okays judicial grilling of Sohrab accused

Based on an application of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), special CBI judge VB Barot has allowed the central agency to conduct judicial interrogation of all the accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, including IPS officials DG Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian, Abhay Chudasama, Rajasthan cadre superintendent of police (SP) Dinesh MN and others — all of whom are lodged in the Sabarmati central jail.

The CBI application states that the agency was handed over the investigation by the apex court in February this year, and that they are still to unravel many mysteries in the case.

Earlier investigation had stated apart from Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi, there was also a third person travelling with them, and the central agency has to probe this third person's role. It also states that they have to probe the nexus between the police forces of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in the Sohrab case and the mysterious disappearance of Kausar Bi, followed by her killing.

The application adds that after the Supreme Court handed over the investigation to the central agency, they have sped up the probe and IPS officer Abhay Chudasama's arrest has come exactly three years after three IPS officers were arrested on April 24, 2007, in connection with the same case. Chudasama's was the 15th arrest in this controversial case. The CBI asked for judicial interrogation of two DYSPs ML Parmar and NH Dabhi, as well as DySP NK Amin.