New Delhi, May 1
The fake encounter case has taken a new turn with the Gujarat government disclosing to the Supreme Court that armed men of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and Andhra Pradesh police were allegedly involved in the killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi.

However, the identity of the Andhra Pradesh policemen who carried out the killing has so far not been established and investigations are undergoing, sources said.

The hearing on habeas corpus petition for production in court of Kauser Bi will be held on Thursday before a bench comprising Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyam.

The court will also consider the plea for a CBI probe, stiffly opposed by the Narender Modi government.

Sources said the action-taken report filed in sealed cover by the Gujarat government in the apex court has revealed the sequence of events telling how Sheikh and his wife were killed by the police after they were picked up by armed men from a bus on an intervening night of November 22-23, 2005.

The report, sources said, admitted that Sohrabuddin was killed in police firing in the wee hours of November 26 and a few days later the body of Kauser Bi, a witness to the crime, was burnt in Ilol village in Sabarkantha district to destroy evidence.

The Gujarat government said Sohrabuddin had booked two tickets from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra and the couple had boarded the bus on November 22.

Later, they were picked up by the armed men midway and were brought to Ahmedabad by road jointly by the ATS, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh police by changing vehicles.

The couple was confined to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Ahmedabad before being killed, sources said.

The shocking revelation that Kauser Bi had been killed came yesterday from the Gujarat government in the apex court. — PTI