Sohrabuddin fake encounter case: Bombay High Court grants bail to DG Vanzara

NEW DELHI: Former Gujarat IPS officer DG Vanzara was on Thursday granted bail in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. The bail was granted by the Bombay High Court. Vanzara is an accused in the fake encounter killing case. Vanzara, who has been in jail for seven years, had made several attempts to secure a bail for himself.

Vanzara was arrested on April 24, 2007, along with two other IPS officers Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh MN, by then investigator Rajnish Rai for killing Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi in November 2005.

According to CBI, Sohrabuddin, who was accused of having links to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, and his wife were abducted by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad when they were on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra from Hyderabad.

The central agency has said Sohrabuddin had demanded a hefty protection money from a businessman and this was the prime reason why he was eliminated.

Last month, Abhay Chudasama, a suspended Gujarat IPS officer, an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case was reinstated by Gujarat's BJP government and given a plum posting.

Chudasama was posted as Superintendent of Police of Vigilance Squad in the DGP's office in Gandhinagar, according to a Home Department notification.

Besides him, the Home Department has transferred and given new postings to seven other senior IPS officers. Chudasama, arrested four years ago and later suspended, was the first Sohrabuddin case accused IPS official to be brought back to service.