It was fake encounter, admits Gujarat Government

New Delhi, March 23
In a startling revelation the Gujarat Government counsel today admitted in the Supreme Court that the killing of Muslim youth Shorabuddin by the police in 2005, suspecting him to be a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative plotting the assassination of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was a fake encounter.

A joint team of the anti-terrorist squad of the Gujarat police and special task force of Rajasthan had allegedly killed Shorabuddin after making him and his wife alight from a bus on way to Sangli from Ahmedabad. His brother Rubabuddin’s petition for probing the killing was listed before a Bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.

Senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for the Gujarat Government admitted that it was a fake encounter and action was being taken against the police officials involved from both states.

Rubabuddin had also alleged that after the killing of his brother, his wife also went missing and apparently had been eliminated by the police for fear of being exposed. He added that co-passenger Tulsi Ram Prajapati, who had brought to light the killing, was also found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Noted journalist B.G. Verghese also filed a PIL seeking probe into the alleged 21 fake encounters in Gujarat but the court said unless some specific material was placed on record, a general direction for inquiry on unsubstantiated charges could not be issued.

Meanwhile, in a Gujarat riots related case being heard by another three-judge Bench, headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat, amucus curiea senior advocate Harish Salve placed on record an assessment report on major violent incidents with a suggestion that an independent inquiry in at least four of them was imminent.

The four cases cited pertained to large-scale violence in Gulberga Society, where a Congress MP was also killed.

The court directed the Gujarat Government, NHRC and NGOs to submit responses to the suggestion of amicus curiea by April 5 and said the case would be listed for appropriate direction on April 16.