AP cops helped in fake encounter

PARTNERS IN CRIME? The Hyderabad connection to the fake encounter case is now becoming stronger.

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Gujarat: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y S R Reddy, has denied any role of the Hyderabad Police in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter.

"To the best of my knowledge, there is no involvement of the Hyderabad Police in the matter," he said.

However, the Chief Minister's confidence was not matched by the Police Chief of Hyderabad, Balwinder Singh who said, "It is very very common to give logistic support as well as man power support if it is required. If searches are to be conducted, if somebody has to be picked up, the police of one state is duty-bound to help the police of another state."

Somewhere between these two statements - made just a few hours apart - lies the truth behind the involvement of Hyderabad Police in the fake encounter, a connection that is getting stronger.

Despite the denial, questions persist and the links go way beyond just logistical support:

• A senior Gujarat IPS officer, E Radhakrishnaiah, who was the SP of Gandhinagar during the time of the 2002 riots, is now in Andhra Pradesh on deputation. He is believed to have helped his colleague, Rajkumar Pandiyan.

• A team of Hyderabad police was with the Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad that picked up Sohrabbudin and his wife Kauser Bi near Tandola village in Andhra Pradesh.

• Two vehicles of the Hyderabad Police were used in this case.

• At least seven policemen from Andhra Pradesh are now being suspected of involvement - two of them are IPS officers. Rajkumar Pandiyan had even stayed for a few days in the Police Officer's Mess in Hyderabad.

• The Hyderabad Police is said to have worked closely with the Gujarat Police earlier in the Haren Pandiyan murder case as well.

This not the first time that the Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh Police have worked together in such operations, but with a Congress government now in the state, it might be politically embarrassing for the party.

In Gujarat, the case is already a political football. The Opposition is accusing the government of trying to slow down the probe into the fake encounter by bringing changing the officers in charge.

This has set off the Congress's political accusations against Modi, blaming him for trying to derail the pace of the investigations, but it might have some explaining of its own to do with the Hyderabad connection to the fake encounter case now becoming stronger.