Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for D G Vanzara

Akshardham Attack: 11 years of torture, then acquittal, now book

by

Mufti Abdul Qayyum was acquitted last year by the Supreme Court in the Akshardham attack case.

Mufti Abdul Qayyum was acquitted last year by the Supreme Court in the Akshardham attack case.

Ahmedabad: After spending 11 years of his life in prison for a crime he never committed, Mufti Abdul Qayyum, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the Akshardham terror attack case, has written a 200-page book recounting the pain of injustice inflicted on him by the state police and other investigating agencies.

In his book, titled ‘Gyarah Saal Salakhon Ke Peeche (11 years behind bars),’ the Mufti provides a detailed account of what he calls is a life branded as a terrorist without evidence. “I have mentioned in the book why I was booked by the Gujarat police in the Akshardham attack case. I have described the kinds of torture I was subjected to by the investigating agencies to make me sign false confessional statements,” said Mufti.

“This book is not just for the Muslims, it is for the most oppressed class of the country. If through my book, even one person is spared from state sponsored excesses then I will be happy that I have achieved something.”

Mufti Qayyum was arrested by former IPS officer D G Vanzara who was himself arrested later for involvement in a number of fake police encounters.

He was 29 at the time of arrest in 2003 – a year after the attack on the Akshardham temple. The police had accused him of writing a letter that was recovered from the possession of two alleged terrorists, who were killed in the attack.

A lower court in Gujarat later convicted him and two others, sentencing them to death. But on May 17 last year, the top court acquitted him of all the charges.

Since his release, the 40-year old Madrassa teacher has been trying to piece together his fragmented life. At the time of his arrest, 12 years ago, his now grown up son was barely ten months old. His wife Sujiya, not only struggled to bring up their children, but also had to live with the stigma of being called a ‘terrorist’s wife.’

“As my son grew older, his only constant question was about his father. Every day before going to school he would always ask; when will father come home. Every moment was filled with pain,” says Mr Qayyum’s wife.

The book, for Mr Qayyum, is a sad testimony of all that transpired in his life behind jail. Ironically, for him writing the book was easy, but he hasn’t been able to gather courage to read it again.

(Agencies)

D G Vanzara leaves jail, says 'acche din' are back

by

Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad: Moments after walking out of jail after almost eight years, former Gujarat deputy inspector general of police DG Vanzara, one of the accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan’s encounter case, has said that the Gujarat Police were targeted for “extra political reasons”.

“Ache din [Good days] for me and other police officers are back,” Vanzara was quoted as saying by television channels after coming out of the Sabarmati Central Jail on Wednesday. He further added,”Gujarat Police were targeted for extra ploitical reasons.” Ache din ayenge [Good days will come] was one of the poll slogans of the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

D G Vanzara, 61, is one of Gujarat’s most controversial police officers. Earlier this month, he was granted bail in the Ishrat Jahan case, one of two “fake encounter” cases against him, on the condition that he will not enter his home state Gujarat.

He had been granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh murder case in 2014. He was a Deputy Inspector General of Police when he was arrested in March 2007 and had been in jail since.

Mr Vanzara and other top police officers are accused of killing 19-year-old college student Ishrat Jahan and three others in 2004 and, in a separate case later, a petty criminal Sohrabbudin Sheikh, his wife and Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness.

Mr Vanzara and the other police officers claim they were killing terrorists who wanted to assassinate Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says the civilians were killed in cold blood.

Today, Mr Vanzara said, “Anti-terror operations happen in every state. But Gujarat Police was a victim of politics. It was unfairly targeted for political reasons.”

He refused to comment on a resignation letter he had written from jail in 2013, in which he accused Amit Shah, who was Home Minister of Gujarat and is now BJP chief, of being in the know of the police officers’ plans to counter the civilians, who he maintained were terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Mr Vanzara’s resignation was not accepted and he retired last year, while still in prison.

(Agencies)

Former police officer D G Vanzara gets bail in Ishrat Jahan case

by

Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad/NDTV: One of Gujarat’s most controversial police officers, DG Vanzara, is likely to walk out of jail soon after he was granted bail today in the 2004 killing of college student Ishrat Jahan. But a court in Ahmedabad said he can’t enter Gujarat.

Eight police officers were charge-sheeted in the case. Four were granted bail earlier and today, two more got it – Mr Vanzara and another police officer, PP Pande.

Mr Vanzara was granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case of 2005 in September.

He has been in a jail in Ahmedabad for eight years for cases that earned him the nickname of “encounter specialist”. He retired last year. He was arrested in March 2007, when he was a Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the Sohrabuddin killing.

Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal, his wife Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati were traveling on a bus from Andhra Pradesh in 2005 when they were kidnapped by the Gujarat police. Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed a few days later. Tulsiram, a key witness to their abduction, was shot dead a year later; the police claimed that he was trying to escape.

Mr Vanzara was also made an accused in the killing of Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old, and three men in 2004. All four were shot dead by police officers who claimed that they were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, who was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.

In 2013, Mr Vanzara quit the force and shot off a vitriolic letter in which he accused Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, a former Home Minister of Gujarat, of making him and other police officers scapegoats for following their orders.

In December, a court in Mumbai accepted Amit Shah’s discharge petition and said he will not face charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.

Sohrabuddin Killing: Former Gujarat police chief discharged on technicality

by

Sohrabuddin_case

Mumbai/NDTV: Former Gujarat police chief PC Pandey, who was accused of trying to derail investigations into the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter killing case, was today let off on a technicality.

PC Pandey, a former Director General of Police, was discharged after a court in Mumbai ruled that the CBI should have taken the Centre’s sanction before charging him.

Sources say this could pave the way for more police officers to be discharged in the decade-old fake encounter case.

In 2005, Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal, his wife Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati were traveling on a bus from Andhra Pradesh when they were kidnapped by the Gujarat police. Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed a few days later. Tulsiram, a key witness to their kidnapping, was shot dead a year later; the police claimed that he was trying to escape.

Mr Pande was accused of suppressing evidence in Tulsiram’s killing.

Another controversial police officer, DG Vanzara, was granted bail in the case last year.

In 2013, Mr Vanzara quit the force and shot off a vitriolic letter in which he accused Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, and Amit Shah, a former state home minister, of making him and other police officers scapegoats for following their orders.

In December, a court in Mumbai accepted Amit Shah’s discharge petition and said the BJP president will not face charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.

I carried out the encounter of Ishrat Jahan on the orders given by my superior, DG Vanzara testified before CBI court

by

Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad: Accused in many fake-encounters, Gujarat IPS officer DG Vanzara has spilled the beans on Friday when he testified before a special CBI court here that he carried out the encounter of Mumbai college student Ishrat Jahan on the orders given by his superior on the basis of inputs received from Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Vanzara, who has been in jail for more than seven years, made his submission through his lawyer during hearing on his bail plea. His lawyer VD Gajjar told the CBI court that the IB, in an affidavit before the Supreme Court in August, had clearly mentioned that the four persons killed in the encounter were terror suspects and the claim was supported by a statement of David Headly, a 26/11 plotter. However, the CBI charge sheet contradicts Vanzara’s claim as the inputs about the terror suspects coming to Gujarat were given to then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner KR Kaushik not to Vanzara. The inputs were forwarded to Vanzara, then a DIG, through his superior Kaushik, he said.

His counsel argued that Vanzara was not aware about IB’s inputs and he only executed the operation on the instructions of his superior but the CBI did not make Kaushik an accused in the encounter case.

He further asked the court that in the FIR, CBI relied upon statements of some police inspectors, who said they took part in the encounter on the orders of their superiors. Vanzara also did the same, then why was he “framed” while his superiors were not named accused by the agency. He also questioned why IB officers were let off the hook?

“CBI had not made four IB officials linked to the case (Rajendra Kumar, Tarun Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede) accused and only Gujarat Police officers were named in the charge sheet”.

In its defence, CBI lawyer LD Tiwari said the agency had not received sanction from the Union Home Ministry, as required under Section 197 of CrPC, to proceed against the IB officers.

It is to be noted here that under the Section 197 of CrPC, no public servant can be prosecuted for an alleged offence committed during discharge of official duty without the government’s nod. Contending this, Vanzara counsel Gajjar said CBI did not opt for any such permission before naming Vanzara or any other Gujarat Police officer in the charge sheet. The court, after hearing the submissions, adjourned the matter to December 5.

It is to be recalled that Ishrat (19), a college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, and along with three men – Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar – were shot dead allegedly by Gujarat Police near here on June 15, 2004 on suspicion that they were on a terror mission.

On the order of the Supreme Court, CBI did the probe of the encounter and found that it was cold-blooded murder in which over a dozen policemen, including IPS officers, were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy and Vanzara is one of them who got bail in another fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife. Vanzara’s submission, who was considered as a blue-eyed police officer in the then Modi-led Gujarat, may stir up hornets’ nest.

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives