Sohrabuddin fake encounter case: DG Vanzara granted bail by Bombay HC

Former Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat DG Vanzara, after spending seven years in prison, was granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case on Thursday.

According to reports, the Bombay High Court granted bail to the former DIG. The case had earlier been transferred to Mumbai by the Supreme Court.

Earlier, a special CBI court hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases had rejected the bail application of a former police inspector of Gujarat ATS, NH Dhabi,  who had allegedly fired at Sheikh.

“Your bail application is rejected on merit and on the ground of parity. You have fired three rounds and one has hit the deceased (Sheikh) and you have a direct role in the case,” CBI court judge BH Loya had said, rejecting the bail plea of Dhabi. Dhabi had allegedly kidnapped Sheikh from Andhra Pradesh and was part of the police team that killed the gangster in a fake encounter.

On 15 August, the Gujarat government had reinstated an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Abhay Chudasama, who is an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and had given him a plum posting as Superintendent, DGP Vigilance Squad, according to a Gujarat state home department notification.

Chudasma, who spent four years in prison, is the first Sohrabuddin Sheikh case accused IPS official to be reinstated by the Gujarat state government.

In 2005, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi were allegedly abducted and killed in 2005 near Gandhinagar in a fake encounter.

Other IPS officers accused in the case include Rajkumar Pandian, another officer from the Gujarat cadre and Dinesh MN of the Rajasthan cadre.

(With inputs from PTI)