The role of the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in the Sadik Jamal encounter case has come under a shadow as it allegedly did not make a 'single' attempt to further investigate the killing. Sadik was killed in an encounter on the midnight of January 13, 2003. After the encounter, the DCB had in a press meet declared that Sadik was an operative of Lashkar -e-Toiba (LeT) and was on a mission to eliminate chief minister Narendra Modi, veteran BJP leader LK Advani and Vishwa Hindu Parishad's general secretary Pravin Togadia.
The DCB had claimed that he was here at the instance of Pakistan's spy agency ISI.
JG Parmar, who fired five rounds at Sadik, had lodged a complaint in the case. Parmar had claimed that Sadik decided to take revenge for the Gujarat riots and eliminate chief minister Narendra Modi after he saw television images of the violence while he was in Delhi.
Parmar had also named Tariq Parveen, Salim Chiplun, Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakil and one Dubai-based Maulana as an accused.However after the incident, as alleged by Sadik's brother Sabir, no investigation was carried out by the DCB. Nor did the local magistrate conduct a mandatory inquiry under section 176 of the Cr.PC, Sabir had claimed.
The magistrate is required to conduct an inquiry in cases where unnatural death has occurred while a person was in police custody or in an encounter. Mukul Sinha, counsel for Sabir, submitted before the court that, though the police painted Sadik as a dreaded terrorists, it did not bother to further investigate him.
"They did not even bother to take the statements of Sadik's family members," said Sinha.
During the hearing of the case, the issue of Bhavnagar police twice visiting Sadik's house for his interrogation in connection with a gambling case lodged against him in 2002 was also made.
The advocate said that the police informed the family about Sadik after he was killed in an encounter but did not inform or summon them for judicial inquiry.
The police then filed an A summary report before the magistrate who accepted it.
Sinha argued as to why the DCB ignored and failed to investigate a case in which they had claimed that top leaders of the country and state were a target. He also mentioned that not one single person near Galaxy cinema area, where Sadik was killed, had made a mention of hearing any bullet shots or seeing chaos that surely must have happened if there was an encounter on the midnight of January 13, 2003.
He said that the police had closed the Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Tulsi Prajapati and Ishrat Jahan encounter case in a similar manner.
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