Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Gujarat government has admitted before the Supreme Court that the wife of a fake encounter victim was also murdered.
Kausar Bi was killed on November 28, 2005. This was two days after police framed her husband, Sohrabuddin Sheikh, as a terrorist and killed him near Ahmedabad.
Two IPS officers from Gujarat and another officer from Rajasthan are under arrest for allegedly killing Sheikh.
The Centre has demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) take over the case and the Opposition wants that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah resign.
The government’s admission raises a question: should Narendra Modi take responsibility for the fake encounter killings?
CNN-IBN’s Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai asked this on Face The Nation to a panel comprising former additional director general of Gujarat police R B Sreekumar, Congress MP from Sabarkantha Madhusudan Mistry and former MP Prafull Goradia.
Is it fair to blame Narendra Modi?
Modi’s supporters say why blame him or his government when it’s not just the Gujarat police who have been accused of involvement-the Andhra Pradesh police allegedly helped in arresting the couple.
Mistry alleged encounters in Gujarat occur whenever Modi is facing a “revolt” in the BJP. “I hold him personally responsible, because under his direction all this action has been taken. If you look at the trend so far whenever there was a threat against Modi from inside the party and there was a revolt against him, one or two encounters took place.”
Mistry claimed that were at least 10 encounters in Gujarat under the “leadership” of arrested IPS officer D G Vanjhara, chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad. “We want CBI to find out if the Home Minister or the Chief Minister were involved. It’s a question whether CID will be able to probe the political connection.”
Cops get the blame
Modi’s critics allege the police couldn’t have dared to kill the couple without the consent of their political masters.
Goradia though demanded to know why the Gujarat government is being “singled out” for the murders.
“It is not a Gujarat affair. Of the two people killed, one was a Hindu and another Muslim. Both of them belonged to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. One of the three arrested IPS officers happens to be from the Rajasthan cadre. So therefore it’s nor a Gujarat affair, neither a communal affair and certainly not a political affair.”
“Had this been a Gujarat affair, it would not have taken strong action and reported to the Supreme Court,” Goradia said.
“My own suspicion is that this has something to do with blackmailing these two criminals of a marble mining operation in Rajasthan. You cant single out the Gujarat government, as this operation involved IPS officers from Rajasthan and Gujarat and now possibly from Andhra Pradesh too. You cannot blame the Chief Minister of a particular state.”
Ex-cop’s damning allegation
Former Gujarat Police officer Sreekumar said the couple’s murder was just “tip of the iceberg”.
“I don’t agree with Goradia’s view because I consider that this incident is the tip of a iceberg. It is part of a pattern of encounters, which have taken place since probably from October 2002 to December 2002.”
“I don’t have evidence because I am not dealing with the subject but let me put ou a few points. First point during my tenure as the additional DGP intelligence the senior most bureaucrat of the state directed me to consider the elimination of some people. It was elimination of some Muslim militants. This was sometime between May-June 2002,” Sreekumar alleged.
There have been fake encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, in Maharashtra and in other states. Why single out the Gujarat government then?
Mistry said the Gujarat government was in the dock because the police here was taking “directions from the top political leadership”
“This is a highly divided state between Hindus and Muslim. There is clear polarization, and that is what BJP intend to do achieve,” Mistry said.
Goradia rejected the allegation and said the encounter had nothing do with the state’s history. “The issue here is that Gujarat has no vested interest in this particular incident. Its neither communal and neither political,” said Goradia.
Should Narendra Modi take responsibility for the fake encounter killings?
Yes: 61 per cent
No: 39 per cent
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