M A I N   N E W S

Samples sent for forensic tests
Digging ends in Vanzara backyard

Ahmedabad, May 7
Police have finished conducting excavations in the farm of arrested IPS officer D G Vanzara at his village Ilol, to look for any remains of Kausar Bi, wife of fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin Sheikh and collected some samples.

An eight-member Gujarat CID (Crime) team, which was assisted by experts from the Directorate of Forensic Science Gandhinagar, has collected some sample which will now be sent for forensic examination, police sources said today.

“Digging was completed late last night. The team has collected some samples which will be examined by forensic experts,” a senior police official said.

The CID team has just one day to conduct questioning and detailed investigations as remand of the three IPS officers ends tomorrow. The digging work was conducted largely in and around an abandoned well that is situated in a farm behind Vanzara’s massive bungalow located in Sabarkatha district, about 100 kms from here, sources said.

The CID (Crime), assisted with forensic experts are known to have sifted through a huge mound of dug-up earth to find remains or clues regarding Kausar Bi's body disposal, sources said, adding that digging work was now over.

This particular spot was dug up because Rubabuddin, brother of the fake encounter victim, had specifically said in his application to the Supreme Court that he feared his sister-in-law was killed by Vanzara’s team and dumped into the well behind his property.

‘Officer present when Kauserbi’s body was disposed off’: Gujarat CID has found evidence that one of the three IPS officers arrested in the fake encounter case was present when the body of Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s wife Kauserbi was being disposed off.

“We have evidence that one of the arrested officers was personally present when Kauser Bi’s body was being disposed of,” a CID source said on Monday. — PTI

Fake shootout: Modi for CBI probe
Ambarish Dutta
Tribune News Service

Patna, May 7
The deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi today told The Tribune that the ruling NDA was not against a CBI probe into the alleged fake shootout of three brothers, Ram Singh, Lakshman Singh and Bharat Singh by police on August 25, 2006 in Nawadaben village in Bhojpur district, about 70 kilometre from here.

Modi said the overburdened CBI had earlier turned down the state government’s request for a CBI probe in the case. “But we are again requesting the CBI to probe into it,” he said.

Modi dismissed the opposition charges that the ruling NDA was trying to suppress the incident. “Let CBI take up the case. We are not against it,” he reiterated.

3 more cops held

Ahmedabad, May 7
Widening the dragnet in the probe in the fake encounter, Gujarat CID have arrested three more policemen including an inspector in connection with the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. The three policemen of the Anti-Terrorism Squad were identified as Inspector NH Dabhi and two lower-rank policemen Ajay Parmar and Sant Ram Sharma, CID sources said in Ahmedabad on Monday. With these arrests, the total number of arrested policemen rose to six. — PTI