CBI court discharges two Gujarat policemen accused in fake encounter case

Gandhinagar: A CBI special court here let free two policemen accused in the Sadiq Jamal fake encounter case of 2003, finding lack of sufficient evidence against them.

The court gave the order on Tuesday. 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.

Jamal, an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba member, was accused of hatching a conspiracy of killing the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders. He was wanted by the state police. Sadiq was killed in Ahmedabad's Naroda area on January 13, 2003.

After Sadiq's brother Sabbir Jamal moved the Gujarat High Court, the HC had handed over the probe later on to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

CBI judge B.A. Dave on Tuesday, granted the discharge applications by both the policemen on the grounds that there wasn't sufficient evidence against them in the case. The applicants had submitted that they were innocent and falsely chargesheeted by the CBI.

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.