Mumbai: Senior IPS officer Geeta Johari, who supervised the investigation in Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case before CBI took it over, manipulated the records to protect the accused officers at the behest of former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, a police officer has said in a statement. The trial of the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case has been shifted to a Mumbai court, where Johri is one of the accused along with Amit Shah.
As per the prosecution case, the Apex court in 2007 asked the Gujarat CID to investigate the allegation of Sohrabuddin's brother, Rubabuddin, about the fake encounter. The probe was done by the Deputy Superintendent of Police VL Solanki and was supervised by Geeta Johari, IGP-CID. Solanki, in a statement to CBI, has said Johari called him and asked him to tear up the case papers and make new case papers favouring the police officials accused of involvement in fake encounter, as instructed by Shah. However, Solanki did not obey and continued the investigation, he claims.
According to Solanki, during the investigation it was revealed that Tulsiram Prajapati was a key witnesses to the Sohrabduddin encounter and hence Solanki sought permission from Johari to interrogate him on December 16, 2006. But Johari allegedly told him that GS Raigar (then ADGP CID Crime, Gujarat police) had directed her to not proceed to Udaipur to examine Prajapati and wait till further order. While Raigar in his statement to CBI, stated that he had received no such request through Johri.
Sohrabuddin, a criminal, was killed in encounter by Gujarat police in November 2005. Raigar has further stated that "in the second week of December 2006, myself, Johri and PC Pande, then DGP were called by Amit Shah in his office. He scolded us for not being able to tame Solanki, who wanted to drag the matter further in enquiry and asked to wrap up the matter".
Solanki further states that while he was waiting for approval to visit Tulsiram, he learnt that Tulsiram was killed in an encounter on December 28, 2006, in Banaskantha district of Gujarat. Soon after the encounter Johri forwarded Solanki's letter to Raigar seeking permission to visit Tulsiram. Raigar however, claims he never received any such letter. Raigar has alleged that the records have been tempered to prove the fake encounter as genuine.
According to Solanki, his letter seeking permission in December 2006 and original records have been destroyed and manipulated. The CBI has made Johari an accused for manipulating and destroying the evidence and record to protect the accused.
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