Two policemen accused in the Sadiq Jamal fake encounter case of 2003, have been discharged by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court as it observed there wasn’t enough evidence against them.
CBI judge B.A. Dave on Tuesday granted their discharge applications. P.L. Mawani, a police Sub-Inspector (SI) and A.S. Yadav, a constable, had filed discharge applications in the CBI court in August, saying that the CBI had falsely chargesheeted their involvement in the case.
Only two days ago, the CBI had filed an affidavit opposing the discharge pleas of the two policemen stating that they allegedly “conspired, kept in illegal confinement and eventually killed the Bhavnagar youth in cold blood.”
Sadiq was accused of planning to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi, among other saffron leaders, to avenge 2002 riots. CBI probe found that he was killed in a fake encounter in Ahmedabad on January 13, 2003, by a team of eight policemen including J G Parmar, I A Saiyed, K M Vaghela, R L Mavani, G H Gohil, Ajaypal Yadav and Chhatarsinh Chudasama.
The CBI, after taking over the probe on Gujarat HC’s order, had filed the charge sheet, claiming that case was that of a staged encounter and a pre-planned conspiracy. The charge sheet said that Sadiq was in illegal confinement of the Gujarat Police, that after taking custody of him from Mumbai Police, had killed him on January, 13, 2003.
The CBI had claimed the involvement of eight Gujarat Police personnel in the fake encounter, including retired Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
