More trouble in store for DG Vanzara

More trouble seems to be in store for suspended IPS officer DG Vanzara. Sources said preliminary investigation of the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter by the Special Task Force (STF) revealed that there are many loopholes in the case, which is being monitored by STF chairman Justice (retired) HS Bedi.

The STF had gained momentum in the Pathan encounter case in the last few months following Bedi’s intervention. Sources said the team had recorded several statements, including that of Sahista Khan Pathan, who was arrested along with Sameer for the murder of a police constable. Sleuths had recently recorded the statement of Sahista to whom Sameer had expressed his fear of being eliminated.

The STF had found in Sahista’s statement that he was with Sameer in the police lock-up when the latter told him in October 2002 that he would be eliminated by Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) officials. Sameer was killed on October 22, 2002, while in the custody of the crime branch.

The STF sleuths had substantiated Sahista’s statement with that of Saidu, another accused who was also in DCB’s custody then.

They recorded the statement of Saidu, who was arrested by the Rajkot police and brought to the city for a narco test on October 21, 2002. Sources said he was present in the police lock-up on the very night Sameer was allegedly taken to Usmanpura for the staged encounter.

Incidentally, many statements recorded by the STF have gone against Vanzara. “It was decided at a recent meeting that investigation of the Sameer Khan encounter case has to be speeded up,” a source said.

Sameer, a small-time chain snatcher, was arrested for the murder of a police constable by the DCB. He later died in an alleged gunfight with Vanzara, deputy superintendent of police Tarun Barot and other policemen.