Palanpur: A local court in Danta today
extended police custody of IPS officer Vipul Aggarwal and two
other police officials arrested in Tulsi Prajapati encounter
case, till May 17.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Juthusinh Parmar and constable
Vinod Limbachiya were arrested along with Aggarwal in the same
case.
The trio was produced before Judicial Magistrate B M
Parjapati after completion of their police custody today.
Aggarwal was arrested from Ahmedabad, Solanki from
Patan while Limbachiya was arrested from Palanpur on the
charges of conspiracy, kidnapping and murder under section
120(b), 364 and 302 of IPC respectively, said Public
Prosecutor R R Jhalke.
Three other constables arrested in the case Karansinh
Sisodia, Kanji Kutchi and Kiransinh Chauhan are also in police
custody at present.
Prajapati, a key witness in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake
encounter case was killed by Gujarat police in an encounter
near Ambaji in Danta taluka of Banaskantha district while
being shifted from Rajasthan to Gujarat in December 2006.
Prosecution during the hearing argued that arrested
cops have not been cooperating with the investigations and
were misleading the inquiry. They also said that other six
accused of the case are still absconding and further remand
was required to find them.
The prosecution also told the court that they wanted
to recover a private car in which Parajapti was brought to
Chhapari near Ambaji and also the revolver used in killing
Prajapati.
Investigating officer in the case R K Patel clarified
that no policeman from Rajasthan has been arrested after the
arrest of six Gujarat policemen in Prajapati's encounter case
so far.
Aggarwal, who was SP of Banaskantha from October 5,
2005 to May 23, 2008, became the first IPS officer arrested in
Prajapati encounter case.
The probe in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case was
handed over to CBI by Supreme Court in January 2010.
CBI had sought papers of Tulsi Prajapati encounter
case from the state police, saying that his encounter was
linked with that of Sohrabuddin.
However, the state police had denied handing over the
documents saying that the apex court had given only mandate of
Sohrabuddin case to CBI while Prajapati encounter case was
being investigated by state CID.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 18:37