CBI opposes Gujarat IPS officer’s discharge plea

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed on Wednesday the discharge plea of Gujarat IPS officer Vipul Aggarwal in the Tulsiram Prajapati ‘fake’ encounter case in the Bombay High Court.

The role played by Aggarwal in the conspiracy was different from that (allegedly) played by Gujarat ATS chief

D G Vanzara, who has been discharged, the CBI lawyer said. Aggarwal is facing trial on the charges of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. His discharge application was dismissed by the trial court in November last year. CBI’s lawyer Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told Justice A M Badar that Aggarwal’s and former Gujarat ATS chief Vanzara’s case were not similar.

The CBI charged Vanzara and several other senior officials of Gujarat and Rajasthan police for abducting and killing gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi in November 2005, and Shaikh's aide and an alleged eyewitness of the killings, Prajapati, in December 2006. Aggarwal is an accused only in the Prajapati case. As per the charge sheet, while Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer, Ashish Pandya, actually shot Prajapati dead in a fake encounter, Aggarwal ensured that Pandya’s leave records were destroyed and a fake FIR was registered to show that Prajapati had escaped from police custody.

Aggarwal is facing trial on the charges of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. His discharge application was dismissed by the trial court in November last year