The true story of a fake encounter

PICKED UP, SHOT DOWN: Gujarat Police's ATS took away Sohrabuddin from a bus and killed him.

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Udaipur/Ahmedabad: Police call Sohrabuddin Sheikh a terrorist and claim he died in an encounter on November 26, 2005. The truth is this: police of three states colluded in murdering him and later two more persons were killed for a cover-up.

Here is a reconstruction of the events leading to Sohrabuddin’s death. 0500 hours IST, November 26: A police team stood waiting between the Vishal Toll barrier and Narol Circle outside Ahmedabad city on the highway to Mumbai.

Twenty minutes later, the headlight of a motorbike alerted them. As the bike inched closer, a police inspector recognised Sohrabuddin and leapt to stop him. Sohrabuddin slipped and fired.

The police team shot back and Sohrabuddin died. That is the version Gujarat Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has given of the event. But how could the inspector recognise Sohrabuddin in the pitch dark of a November morning?

The Gujarat Police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) has clearly said that IPS officer D G Vanzara, who was ATS chief then, staged the encounter. The CID traced the movements of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser Bi and a third person and found that on November 23 they were travelling on a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli on tickets 29, 30 and 31.

A Gujarat ATS team, assisted by the Andhra Police, halted bus 5051 near Tandola village on the Hyderabad-Sangli road and dragged out the three at 0100 hours IST on Novermber 23.

Bus driver Mohammed Misbahuddin told CNN-IBN what happened “A car stopped my bus in a jungle and a policeman came out and asked me to switch off the lights,” said Misbahuddin in Hyderabad.

Three days later and thousands of kilometres away Sohrabuddin was killed.

Cut to Ahmedabad

The ‘Disha’ bungalow outside Ahmedabad is a safe house of the Gujarat ATS. People claim that on the night of Novemeber 25, 2005 they saw a man whose face was covered and a burqa-clad woman being brought to the bungalow.

According to the statement of Constable Ajay Parmar, who is in the custody of the Gujarat CID, he was ordered to bring a Hero Honda motorcycle to Narol Circle at 0400 hours IST on November 26.