New Delhi, April 30
In a bid to avoid a CBI inquiry into the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, the Gujarat government has finally admitted in the Supreme Court that his wife Kausarbi was also done to death and her body was burnt to avoid identification.

The state government had stated in an oral submission on April 27 that Kausarbi might not be alive, but in a status report filed before a Bench of Justices Tarun Chattarjee and P.K. Balasubramanyan today, it admitted that she was also killed and further investigation in the case was going on.

The report though was filed by the Gujarat government counsel K.T.S. Tulsi in a sealed cover, but according to its contents leaked to the media, Kausarbi was killed a few days after the November 25 stage-managed shootout of her husband Sohrabuddin, who had a criminal history and faced several cases.

It stated that efforts were on to locate her remains for DNA test by the special investigating team of the Gujarat police CID and some more police officials could be arrested.

During the examination of three senior officers — D.G. Vanzara, R.K. Pandian and Dinesh M.N. — arrested so far, it has been established that they were responsible for the murder of Sohrabuddin. While Vanzara and R.K. Pandian were in the anti-terrorist squad of the Gujarat police when the incident took place, Dinesh was SP of the Rajasthan police. The UPA government has made a strong plea for handing over the case to the CBI.

The Bench is expected to issue appropriate direction tomorrow after examining the report, which was submitted during a mentioning made by Tulsi as the court assembled for the day.

Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabbuddin in a letter petition sent to the court earlier, had alleged that Kausarbi and another person, Tulsidas Prajapati, a witness to the fake encounter of his brother, were killed so that the incident did not come to light.

A joint team of Gujarat and Rajasthan police had picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife on November 22, 2005, from a bus while they were travelling to Sangli from Hyderabad. He was portrayed as a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative with a plan to assassinate Chief Minister Narendera Modi.