Ahmedabad: Gujarat government has
appointed retired Justice MB Shah of Supreme Court as
chairman of Monitoring Authority (MA) which would monitor a
probe by Special Task Force (STF) into alleged encounter of
Sadiq Jamal Mehtar in 2003.
The affidavit filed by state Home under secretary D R
Patel in the court of Justice M R Shah, hearing the alleged
fake encounter case, stated that Shah was appointed as
chairman of the MA through a notification dated April 7.
Sadiq was killed in Naroda area of the city on January
13, 2003 by city Crime Branch claiming that he was a hardcore
criminal on par with Dawood Ibrahim and had been plotting to
kill BJP leader L K Advani, chief minister Narendra Modi and
VHP leader Pravin Togadia.
The affidavit further said that the state government
has also appointed five police officers as members of the
special task force (STF) that would enquire into the instance
of encounter.
The notification in this regard was issued on April 2
when Inspector General A K Sharma was appointed as chief of
STF while DIG D J Patel, SP Sandeep Singh, SP D R Patel and SP
R V Asari have been made its members.
Government pleader P K Jani requested the court to
take this information on record while considering the petition
of Sadiq`s brother Shabbir Jamal Mehtar who has sought CBI
enquiry into his brother`s death.
The court has decided to hear all the parties in
connection with the case on April 25 before bringing the
information on record.
In his petition demanding CBI probe, Sadiq`s brother
Shabbir Mehtar had claimed that his brother was not a
terrorist and the plot to kill him was a `cold-blooded murder`
and a `conspiracy` hatched by the then Deputy Commissioner of
Police D G Vanzara and IPS officer P P Pande who was heading
the city Crime Branch in 2003.
Pande is presently additional director general of
police and heading the state CID. While, Vanzara is behind
bars in connection with the 2005 fake encounter of
Soharabuddin Sheikh and killing of his wife Kausar Bi.
They both have denied their role, as alleged by
Shabbir, in the encounter of Sadiq Jamal, in their respective
affidavits in the Gujarat High Court.
PTI
