Ishrat Jahan: The inconvenient story no one wants to tell

[zumi]

Premeditated Murder Though the aim of this murderous plot was evidently to generate a fear psychosis in the State and burnish the credentials of the Gujarat Chief Minister, there is nothing as yet in the public domain to justify holding Mr. Modi directly responsible. However, the fact that officers holding some of the highest posts in his administration could plan and execute these custodial killings indubitably tarnishes his political credentials. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/premeditated-murder/article4881800.ece?homepage=true

:hysterical: since IB falls under the PM, shouldn't the PM be held responsible too, why stop at Modi? This is whole boo hoo about some dead terrorist woman has now become so ridiculous that CBI are now faking their own investigation...the fake investigation of a fake encounter...at least it keeps the evening comedy hour news shows entertaining.

[adi B]

sreeni jain and ndtv really after modi`s name in the encounter,trying so hard :giggle:

[The Outsider]

There is a sworn testimony of a man from UP who said that Javed and Ishrat stayed together in a hotel in Lucknow and tried to obtain illegal weapons. The CBI has not even interrogated this person.

Sure, let's believe this man, but ignore what Babu Bajrangi and several others said as they were merely showing off - all of them. :nice:

[seedhi]

Sure' date=' let's believe this man, but ignore what Babu Bajrangi and several others said as they were merely showing off - all of them. :nice:[/quote']When did I say you believe him on face value ? But the CBI did not even interrogate him before filing the chargesheet. Is this the way an investigation is done ?

[surajmal]

Indian Politicians: Pakistan's Proxy Soldiers

​Col. Purohit of the Military Intelligence was implicated for his association with ‘Abhinav Bharat’, an organization labeled by the authorities as progenitor of so-called ‘Hindu Terror’. It is another matter that more than 50 officers of the army in the Court of Inquiry have vouched for the fact that he had kept all the relevant authorities in loop regarding his infiltration into the said organization. The officer also had very successfully infiltrated the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and was regularly invited by the Maharastra ATS to conduct lectures on IM and LeT. A fortnight before 26/11, Col Purohit was arrested. As a consequence the Military Intelligence of India was intimidated and paralyzed. Was it to facilitate the attack on Mumbai by the LeT? Now there is an attack on the core of internal security, i.e. Intelligence Bureau of India. Its sin being that it provided ‘specific intelligence’ with regard to the plans by an itinerate module comprising four LeT terrorists, two Pakistanis and also an Indian woman Ishrat Jahan to kill the Chief Minister of a state of Union of India. It is another matter that this Chief Minister happens to be Narendra Modi. The dispensation in Delhi seems to convey ‘death to Modi, long live LeT’. The love or fear of LeT has impelled the quarters to consciously wreck the internal security apparatus of the country. Even as the embers of the targeting of the IB fly in and outside the country, an Inspector of Punjab Police, Surjit Singh, has claimed that he has carried out 83 fake encounters at the behest of his bosses during the‘Sikh Freedom Movement’. The timing of the smote on the conscience and the moral churning process of this Inspector clearly indicates the identity of his benefactors. The ISI’s desperate bid to revive militancy in Punjab through its strategic arm LeT has been widely reported in the media. This seems to be yet another attempt by the ISI and LeT to destroy the security apparatus in Punjab so as to make uncontested in-roads. The targets have been carefully selected i.e the Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and the state police forces, which includes the Gujarat Police, where nearly a dozen officers have been hounded and intimidated by the Center. The only officer who has found favour of the Center was the one demanding a Black Berry phone from a political party to settle political scores. The common enemy of these agencies is the LeT. It is the same LeT (Markaz-e-Taiba), which has received Rs.61 million by the Punjab government in Pakistan as grant-in-aid in the current fiscal. The tragedy is that it is not only Pakistan establishment which grovels to the head of LeT, Hafiz Saeed, but the Indian establishment as well. The love or fear of LeT has impelled the quarters to consciously wreck the internal security apparatus of the country. Ishrat Jahan, a 19 year old girl from Mumbai was killed with LeT terrorists in Ahmedabad in an encounter on 15 June 2004. The family members in hindsight allege that Ishrat was abducted by the IB. It is queer that once she went missing her family members did not deem it fit to lodge an FIR with the Mumbai Police. Their inaction and silence on the issue can also be construed that the links with LeT run much deeper and wider. The dispensation by attacking the Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Rajendra Kumar, has attacked the core of India’s internal security intelligence. All for whom, but the LeT! Mr Rajendra Kumar’s failing has been his being professional and conscientious. In that he acquired intelligence from ‘sources’, informed the higher-ups in Delhi, which includes his seniors and in-turn the Ministry of Home Affairs. His main failing however was that, in the process, he was not saving a Chief Minister but Narendra Modi. If he had acted in the same manner to save the life of some privileged ‘democratic-monarchs’ of the country, he would have been awarded Padma Vibhushan and in the case of highest monarch a ‘ Bharat Ratna.’ After all the same dispensation rewarded Mr Brajesh Mishra with Padma Vibushan for his Boston rescue operation of the ‘Yuvraj’. Readers with little research can know the truth.:cantstop: Never before in the history of India, an IB or R&AW official was asked to submit before the CBI for interrogation on professional matters. Is it a ploy to unravel the entire intelligence framework of the country? This author who served with R&AW would have preferred to kill himself rather than submit to the CBI for interrogation of sensitive matters that are vital to Indian security interests. If this author was the head of the IB, the Special Director would have reported to the CBI over his dead body. The CBI has absolutely no competence to interrogate an IB and R&AW official on matters of internal and external security. By sheer level of politicization, the mediocre content of the job of the CBI, it is ill-equipped to deal with IB and R&AW officials. If the CBI cannot be trusted with Arushi murder case or the Nithari case pertaining to Moninder Singh Pandher, what is its credibility! The whole world knows the truth in these cases sans the CBI. Can the Prime Minister at the current stage of his life cross his heart and vouch that he does not know the truth in these two cases? How has suddenly the CBI become the repository of the national conscience, which includes the IB and the R&AW? The IB has been pitted against the CBI. In the case of blasts in Malegaon in 2006, the NIA has been pitted against the Maharastra ATS and the CBI. And earlier in Col Purohit’s case the Mahrastra ATS was pitted against the Military Intelligence. The effect of the orchestrated attrition is already beginning to tell. This systematic destruction of India’s internal security apparatus is not only for vote-bank politics as most commentators are suggesting. Of course the Modi-phobia is a factor but not the sole reason.It has a larger dimension which is evident from the nervousness displayed by the dispensation with regard to ISI, Hafiz Saeed and David Headley. Do they know too much? Were they used to stage 26/11 to counter Jehadi terror by creating the specter of ‘Hindu Terror’? How does David Headley have the gumption to abuse Indian interrogators? Are the services of the ISI and LeT being obtained to influence vote-bank politics? Is the LeT and the ISI asking too much in return? These are questions which readers must ponder upon. While the readers do so, their benchmark should be the fact that if Ajmal Kasab had not developed cold feet and caught alive, all preparations has been made to label 26/11 as act of ‘Hindu Terror’. Books to this effect were pre-written and the choice of the Chief Guest decided. Till today nobody has questioned as to how an unconstitutional authority was indirect communication with the Maharastra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, and eliciting sensitive security details. If this politician cannot explain this he should be treated like any other terrorist. For matters of national security the relationship between all the intelligence organizations of the States and the Center is both vertical and horizontal. Flow of intelligence is not only from top to down but in the reverse order too. Moreover, there is lateral sharing as well. The multiplicity of agencies has its benefits in terms of overlap, corroboration and coverage. By targeting the IB, the Military Intelligence, the state security apparatus of Gujarat and the previous Maharastra ATS, the dispensation has intimidated the entire intelligence network of India. India is now an open and defenseless target. The traitors as of now have prevailed! No intelligence official now will provide or share information with the same degree of sincerity and patriotism. The Indian intelligence community is now a scared community. Nationalism and patriotism have become criminal attributes. Things have gone so anti-national that the most sensitive information was being leaked by the CBI pertaining details of Ishrat Jahan case and there were media houses, flaunting documents which should have been only for the consumption of Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The Pakistan or the ISI connection of some of these news channels and journalists is too well known. Ishrat Jahan and her associates were nothing but tools of proxy war by Pakistan. Anybody with a modicum of understanding of terrorism will understand that the role of Ishrat was to act as suicide-bomber, as revealed by David Headley. There are any number of such modules waiting to strike. Rajiv Gandhi too was eliminated by eliciting the services of one such suicide bomber through the aegis of LTTE. This could not have happened without unsuspecting facilitators within. Indian should realize that this is an era of proxy wars. A civilized country to retain its civility has to fight with uncivilized ‘proxy soldiers’, the kind of Ishrat Jahan. In this proxy war, which is also referred to as ‘intelligence wars’, the role of intelligence agencies is predominant. In dealing with such adversaries, there are methods, which have been used in the past to bring back civility, whose peace dividends people of India including the politicians, the civil activists and the vocal media continue to enjoy. One such region is the Punjab province of India. The dispensation at the behest and blackmail of external enemies has by design destroyed the entire internal security apparatus assiduously built over the years for the LeT and vote-bank politics. India now stands exposed. Whenever there is the next blast or terrorist attack don’t expect too much from Indian intelligence framework. It stands intimidated and unraveled. It will be extremely difficult for the Indian security apparatus to recover from this wreck. The ISI and LeT has won!

RSN Singh is a former military intelligence officer who later served in the Research and Analysis Wing, or R&AW. He is the author of two books: Asian Strategic and Military Perspective and Military Factor in Pakistan.

http://www.sify.com/news/indian-politicians-pakistan-s-proxy-soldiers-news-columns-nhflBefbdib.html

[The Outsider]

When did I say you believe him on face value ? But the CBI did not even interrogate him before filing the chargesheet. Is this the way an investigation is done ?

That's the reality of India - all investigations are crappy and have multiple coverups involved including the SIT investigation. I did read the SIT report at your recommendation and found no sensible justification of the multiple phone calls by Kodnani to the CMO. The investigation is self contradictory in fact because it chooses to discard the word of Bhatt on the basis that a lot of people gave contradictory statements and in the same vein chose to accept that Babu Bajrangi and several others were merely showing off because when they did a volte-face on what they told Tehelka. It did not even pursue the line of investigation as to what kind of inducements or threats might have been used for so many people to deny what they said on the Tehelka tapes.

[seedhi]

That's the reality of India - all investigations are crappy and have multiple coverups involved including the SIT investigation. I did read the SIT report at your recommendation and found no sensible justification of the multiple phone calls by Kodnani to the CMO. The investigation is self contradictory in fact because it chooses to discard the word of Bhatt on the basis that a lot of people gave contradictory statements and in the same vein chose to accept that Babu Bajrangi and several others were merely showing off because when they did a volte-face on what they told Tehelka. It did not even pursue the line of investigation as to what kind of inducements or threats might have been used for so many people to deny what they said on the Tehelka tapes.

At least the SIT chose to interrogate these people and formed a conclusion. The CBI did not even interrogate that UP man. As far the phone calls to CMO - that is a pretty dubious link - unless one of the persons involved in the call reveals what was spoken, how can one guess what was said ? In the Naroda case, Maya Kodnani was the MLA from that area, and the calls were made to the CMO after the rioting had taken place. As far as I know Babu Bajrangi was convicted of his crimes anyway, based mostly on witnesses who saw him .

[The Outsider]

At least the SIT chose to interrogate these people and formed a conclusion. The CBI did not even interrogate that UP man.

Doesn't matter. Fact remains both investigations are rubbish, maybe to a different degree but still rubbish.

As far the phone calls to CMO - that is a pretty dubious link - unless one of the persons involved in the call reveals what was spoken, how can one guess what was said ?

Isn't it the job of the investigating agency to find out what was said by using various questioning tactics?

In the Naroda case, Maya Kodnani was the MLA from that area, and the calls were made to the CMO after the rioting had taken place. As far as I know Babu Bajrangi was convicted of his crimes anyway, based mostly on witnesses who saw him .

No, the calls were made while the rioting was going on. While it turns out, Kodnani was inciting people and distributing weapons. Not one or two calls, dozens of calls. My point was not about Babu Bajrangi's conviction, but about the volte-face from him and several others about the support they received from Modi on the Tehelka tapes. The SIT report does not answer why they changed their statements and made no attempt to investigate if the reason was threat or some inducements.

[seedhi]

Doesn't matter. Fact remains both investigations are rubbish, maybe to a different degree but still rubbish. Isn't it the job of the investigating agency to find out what was said by using various questioning tactics?

Well, if both parties deny any conspiracy then what questioning can the SIT do. It cannot invent a conversation.

No, the calls were made while the rioting was going on. While it turns out, Kodnani was inciting people and distributing weapons. Not one or two calls, dozens of calls.

Maya Kodnani has alleged to have made a total of 4 calls to the CMO.

On February 28, Kodnani made a call to the CMO at 19:46 hours, lasting 79 seconds. On the same day, another call at 20:14 lasted 103 seconds. On March 1, Kodnani received a call from the CMO at 13:09 hours that lasted 179 seconds. Thirteen minutes later, at 13:24 hours, yet another call lasted 75 seconds. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/naroda-verdict-may-spell-trouble-for-top-cops-ex-minister/Article1-922664.aspx

The riots at Naroda had started in the morning at around 9am on 28 Feb and were already over when the calls were made. Maya Kodnani was the MLA of the area where the riot took place - it is perfectly natural for calls to be made to/from her in the aftermath of the riot.

My point was not about Babu Bajrangi's conviction, but about the volte-face from him and several others about the support they received from Modi on the Tehelka tapes. The SIT report does not answer why they changed their statements and made no attempt to investigate if the reason was threat or some inducements.

Is there any evidence to suggest that these people were threatened or induced ? One cannot manufacture evidence to support a contention.

[someone]

You are missing one key point here which has been discussed time and again - an extra judicial killing is an extra judicial killing. It doesn't matter WHO it is. The CBI charge sheet clearly mentions that this was a fake encounter by the Gujarat Police and IB. The Metropolitan Magistrate feels so, the SIT feels so and the Gujarat HC also feels so.

As stated earlier, then why all this exclusivity to Jahan? It should be all of them who were in the car. It is only because of the perceived image that she was a innocent little girl. There is a lot of evidence of her being associated with terrorists but intentionally is being neglected. And involving and blaming IB would open a window of opportunity to damage our case especially for sensitive areas like Kashmir. And then PMO is directly involved with IB, they should get the blame as well, so will Congress blame themselves?

[someone]

The Modi factor and the fake outrage over Ishrat Jahan - Firstpost The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has done much to convince us that the Ishrat Jahan killing was a “fake” encounter. However, its charge-sheet in the case, and all the related developments, suggest that the agency’s autonomy is largely fake; that the UPA’s belated attempt to give the CBI a veneer of “autonomy” is intended to correct this impression and hence surely fake; and also that the “liberal” outrage over the encounter itself is fake. All of this has happened not because of our “collective conscience” but because of a congruence of vested interests that feel threatened by the rise of one outsider to Delhi – Narendra Modi. If the man hadn’t existed, none of this would have happened.Fake encounters would have gone on as usual; the CBI would have been content to remain a “caged parrot”; the UPA would not even have dreamt of giving the CBI autonomy; the courts would probably not have taken note of the parrot’s true status; and “liberals” would not have appeared on TV expressing fake outrage over the encounter. The truth is Modi makes us all insecure and uncomfortable. Not because of who he is, but because of who we are. Over the last 11 years, the full resources of the state, the media, the courts and every possible investigative agency in the land have been put to work to get one man nailed. Has this ever happened in any case in independent India? Nah! This is how the schema has worked. If lower courts can’t implicate or nail Modi, try the higher courts; if the higher courts can’t go too far, get another investigation started; if that doesn’t work, move the courts again to appoint a SIT; if the SIT’s report is not enough, try an amicus curiae; if that doesn’t work, try another SIT in another case; if that doesn’t work, try the CBI. And so it goes on and on. The goal is simple: keep trying till you get the verdict you want. Make everyone feel guilty that our job as liberals is not done till one man goes to jail. Nailing Modi is the cure for a system we don’t want to change. The CBI may have established the fakeness of the encounter in the public eye – though one can’t be sure of that, given its track record in obtaining convictions in so many cases –but the very fact that it has been pussy-footing around the involvement of the Intelligence Bureau (IB’s) role in the encounter is telling. It is to hide the fact that the encounter didn’t happen at the Gujarat police’s instance. A Times of India story today says the CBI’s charge-sheet itself suggests that IB official Rajinder Kumar is the key mastermind behind the encounter, but it does not name him. Instead, it opts to make a laundry list of the Gujarat officials who did the actual dirty work. The pawns have been sacrificed to save the Queen. This could be for two reasons. One is practical. They may go after Kumar after he retires on 31 July, and hence avoid an inter-agency squabble over arresting a serving official. The other is clearly political. It does not serve the Congress’ purpose to have the whole case get over early. By delaying and dragging the whole process of filing the full charge-sheet it can keep Modi and the BJP permanently on tenterhooks, even while herding the Muslim vote towards itself. Delays enable inspired leaks about “white beard” and “black beard” – presumably veiled references to Modi and Amit Shah, his close aide. The charge-sheet has nothing to speak about the colour of anybody’s beards. The media and the public have been taught to pretend outrage in anything involving Modi – not anyone else. Communal riots anywhere else do not outrage us – not in Assam or UP. Encounters in Kashmir, the north-east, Punjab, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and all the states affect by the Maoist insurgency do not outrage us beyond a day or two. But for 11 years, we have been “outraged” by anything involving Modi. From 2002 to his various statements (“the 50-crore girlfriend”) to his growth model to the alleged fake encounters in his state. Even in the Ishrat case we are missing one thing: nobody has bothered to tell us what benefit Modi might have seen in the elimination of the girl or the other three who were killed in that fake encounter, assuming he was even told about it. http://www.firstpost.com/india/the-modi-factor-and-the-fake-outrage-over-ishrat-jahan-931247.html

[ravishingravi]

:protest::protest: Kaanspiracy.. Please avoid facts from hereon.

[Sachin=GOD]

Yeah, bechaare Modi ko hi sab target karte hain - woh toh doodh ka dhula saint hai :adore:

[bulbul]

:protest::protest: Kaanspiracy.. Please avoid facts from hereon.

What is fact? Only one side knows fact, we are fake monsters :winky:

[ravishingravi]

Yeah' date=' bechaare Modi ko hi sab target karte hain - woh toh doodh ka dhula saint hai :adore:[/quote'] Innocent till proven guilty. Have we disbanded that already ? At least in OJ's case, one could argue of travesty of justice. Here all I see from haters is "dadaji ki kahaani" type stories to suit the agenda. Great similarities between right winger in US and left winger / liberals in India.

[someone]

Yeah' date=' bechaare Modi ko hi sab target karte hain - woh toh doodh ka dhula saint hai :adore:[/quote'] Lol, where is Modi even in this case? It's just a habit now for you to connect everything with Modi. You sir are a professional hater. This case is now even larger than that as entire IB, our elite security organization is being "witch-hunted".

[bulbul]

Innocent till proven guilty. Have we disbanded that already ? At least in OJ's case, one could argue of travesty of justice. Here all I see from haters is "dadaji ki kahaani" type stories to suit the agenda. Great similarities between right winger in US and left winger / liberals in India.

You still didnt understood "freedom of choice"

[Sachin=GOD]

Lol' date=' where is Modi even in this case?[b'] It's just a habit now for you to connect everything with Modi. You sir are a professional hater. This case is now even larger than that as entire IB, our elite security organization is being "witch-hunted".

read that firstpost article - it goes on and on and on about how the entire investigation has been done in such a manner as to target Modi - the article itself connected this case to Modi and I am called a professional hater :hatsoff:

[someone]

read that firstpost article - it goes on and on and on about how the entire investigation has been done in such a manner as to target Modi - the article itself connected this case to Modi and I am called a professional hater :hatsoff:

So calling a wrong a wrong is not allowed just because you will feel sad and bad?

[Crookbond]

:whine: Khaki death squads http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/khaki-death-squads/article4889338.ece

At a recent function in the state capital, Gandhinagar, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi warned the Central Bureau of Investigation against becoming a tool in the hands of the Congress-led union government. He asserted: “Modi is not scared of the CBI which has become the Congress Bureau of Investigation. Nobody is going to rule Delhi forever.” Mr. Modi obviously knew what was coming because a few days later, on July 3, 2013, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed its first charge sheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case that went into minute details of how select police officials of the Ahmedabad’s crime branch, led by the then Deputy Inspector General D.G Vanzara, plotted a sinister conspiracy to kidnap and hold in illegal confinement the 19-year-old Mumbai girl and three others before murdering them in cold blood. Court ordered probe An important point missed out by the BJP and those critical of the CBI is that the agency is investigating the case not at the instance of the central government but on orders from the Gujarat High Court. Secondly, this is not the only encounter case for which Mr. Modi’s police officials are in the dock. Two other cases have been equally sensational, the triple murder of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kauserbi and accomplice Tulsiram Prajapati and the suspected fake encounter of Sadiq Jamal Mehtar. Mr. Vanzara, who is already in jail for the Sohrabuddin encounter, is also an accused in the Sadiq Jamal case. Mr. Shah, who is an accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter, has been released on bail and has since taken charge as the BJP’s campaign manager in Uttar Pradesh. He is also under investigation in the Sadiq Jamal case. What raises the suspicion of conspiracy in these cases is the recurrence of the same names in all of them. Mr. Vanzara, in particular, emerges as the lynchpin common to the Ishrat, Sohrabuddin and Sadiq Jamal encounters. Even more curiously, the suspected terrorists in all the cases were said to be on a mission to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders. Senior Intelligence Bureau official Rajinder Kumar’s name figures in the Ishrat Jahan and Sadiq Jamal cases. The CBI’s charge sheet in the Ishrat case suggests that Mr. Kumar was involved in planning and facilitating the conspiracy. Senior lawyer Mukul Sinha, who has been fighting these as well as several 2002 pogrom cases, says the Gujarat Government used the encounters both to sustain the propaganda that Muslim terrorists were out to kill Mr. Modi to avenge the 2002 violence and to show that the State police would not tolerate this. Mr. Sinha attributes the official complicity in the encounters to the eagerness to please the Chief Minister. “Those officials who refused to toe the line during the 2002 violence were all sidelined.” Gujarat saw 21 encounter killings between October 2002 and December 2006. As Mr. Sinha remarks, “It is strange that the threats to Mr. Modi stopped after this period.” Excellent administration! :isalute: Then Director General of Gujarat Police RB Sreekumar said the State government rewarded loyal officers with the choicest placements, post-retirement assignments and other favours and punished those that did not toe the line with sinecure postings, supersession in promotion and disciplinary proceedings.” Mr. Sreekumar, who as a senior intelligence officer reported that Mr. Modi’s speeches in 2002 were incendiary, was himself sidelined. Top officer victimised The travails of Inspector-General of Police Satish Verma underscore this point. Mr. Verma, a 1986 batch official, was attached by the Gujarat High Court to the CBI to assist in the Ishrat Jahan investigations. Mr. Verma’s zeal placed him in opposition to the State government which tried its best to detach the officer from the investigations, only to find the court standing rock-like behind him. A Division Bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari gave a tongue-lashing to the Modi government for obstructing the investigation by insisting on Mr. Verma’s return to the state services. The court told the State’s Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta, “not to get psychologically disturbed” when he asked, “Has the CBI become so insolvent that it cannot work without an officer (Verma)?” :hysterical: Mr. Verma was shunted out to the Police Training School, Junagadh by the government last year. Yet when he was asked to assist the CBI, the same government pleaded that his services were very critical to its functioning. Mr. Verma challenged his transfer before the Central Administrative Tribunal, contending that it was to hamper the Ishrat Jahan investigations. The tribunal sought an explanation from the government. Investigations in the Ishrat case have changed several hands. The case was handed over to a SIT comprising IPS officials Pramodkumar, J.K. Bhatt and Mohan Jha. Following their failure to complete the probe, the Gujarat High Court formed another SIT with Mr. Satish Verma and Mr. Jha as members and Karnail Singh of the Delhi Police as the head. Mr. Singh wriggled out of the SIT saying he had got a posting to Mizoram. Maharashtra official Satyal Singh was called in next but he declined the position saying he did not know Gujarati. Then came Andhra Pradesh’s R. R Rumudu who extricated himself citing health grounds. He was replaced by R.R Verma under whom the SIT described the case as a fake encounter. However, Mr. R.R Verma also left followed by Mr. Mohan Jha. This left Mr. Satish Verma alone. In December 2011, the High Court asked the CBI to take over the investigations, with Mr. Verma assisting it. The result was a fresh offensive against Mr. Verma and the reopening of a 1993 case against him. Mr. Vanzara and others, on the other hand, moved about with impunity. A September 2002 report by Mr. Sreekumar to the Police Commissioner accusing Mr. Vanzara of planting illicit firearms on members of the minority community went unheeded. Instead, Mr. Sreekumar found himself transferred out. Says the now retired police officer, “Had the State government acted on this information and checked Mr. Vanzara, the right message would have gone to the police officers who would have desisted from the extra-judicial killings which have incalculably hurt the Gujarat government.”