Encounters genuine, police caught in political cross-firing, says DG Vanzara

Hours after a special CBI court in Mumbai acquitted all 22 accused in the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi, and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati, retired police officer DG Vanzara reiterated that the encounters were genuine.

Vanzara was also an accused in the encounter case, but was among the 16 persons who were discharged by the CBI earlier due to lack of evidence against them. Vanzara described the court verdict as a landmark one, and said that his "stand has been vindicated".

"Our genuine encounters were established as fake as a part of political conspiracies by anti-national elements. Police officers from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh were arrested in false cases. We were in jail for nine years. The verdict has come, and it has been proven that we were right," he told reporters. Vanzara said that police officers were booked in false cases as a part of a political conspiracy.

"The police department had nothing to do with politics. There was a political struggle between Gandhinagar and Delhi at the time. Officers of Gujarat police had nothing to do with it, but they became victims of this cross-firing," he claimed.

The retired IPS officer, who spent several years behind bars in fake encounter cases, said that if the encounters had not been done, it was possible that Pakistan and Pakistan-sponsored terrorists would have been successful in assassinating then chief minister Narendra Modi. He reiterated that terrorists wanted to eliminate Modi to avenge for the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

"Gujarat could have become another Kashmir," he said, while stressing that the encounters were within the boundaries of law. The BJP also alleged that the fake cases were an attempt to harass Gujarat and its leaders.

"The judiciary has stamped its approval on what we have been saying for the last decade. The Congress should apologise to the people who were booked in false cases," state BJP spokesperson IK Jadeja said.

THE ACCUSED WHO HAVE BEEN ACQUITTED

Abdul Rehman, Narainsinh Dabhi, Mukeshkumar Parmar, Himanshusingh Rajawat, Shyamsingh Charan, Rajendra Jeerawala, Ashish Pandya, Ghattamaneni S Rao, Yudhvir Singh, Kartar Singh, Narayansingh Chauhan, Jethasingh Solanki, Kanjibhai Kutchi, Vinodkumar Limbachiya Kiransingh Chauhan and Karansingh Sisodiya, Ajaykumar Parmar and Santram Sharma, Balkrishna Chaubey, Ramanbhai K Patel, Naresh V Chauhan, Vijaykumar Rathod