Police inspector Ashish Pandya, who is wanted in connection with the Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case, was finally arrested in Rajkot on Thursday by the state CID (crime).
Police inspector Ashish Pandya, who is wanted in connection with the Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case, was finally arrested in Rajkot on Thursday by the state CID (crime).
On Thursday, Pandya had reported for duty at the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) office in Rajkot after a long absence, when he was arrested. He was brought to Gandhinagar from Rajkot and will be produced in a court in Danta taluka of Banaskantha district on Friday.
Earlier, Pandya had gone on leave but had not reported for duty even after the leave period was over. Sources in the police alleged that Pandya had gone underground because of the recent developments in the investigation of the encounter cases. He was also worried by the CBI’s insistent demand that the Prajapati case be handed over to it, the source claimed.
And even when the state CID started arresting the accused in the Prajapati encounter case, Pandya kept evading arrest. “While he was on the run, he had gone to Mumbai and various places in other states,” a source claimed. But in his statement to the ACB officials in Rajkot, Pandya said he had not reported for duty because his wife was ill.
Pandya was a sub-inspector when Tulsi Prajapati was killed in a fake encounter. He was promoted to the rank of inspector last month and transferred to the Rajkot anti-corruption bureau. Pandya was declared an absconder by CID (crime) when the investigating agency could not trace his whereabouts.
It was Pandya who had allegedly fired the bullet that killed Prajapati, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. His arrest is expected to plug many loopholes in the investigation of the Prajapati murder case. It has been alleged that, at the behest of arrested IPS officer Vipul Aggarwal, he had managed the logistics as well as the weapon that was planted on Prajapati’s body.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}