Ahmedabad Mirror;Vipul.Rajput;Saturday, Aug 13, 2011.
The Gujarat government appears to be in fresh trouble with more ghosts of fake encounters likely to haunt it. Senior IPS officer Rahul Sharma here on Friday filed an application under the Right To Information (RTI) Act seeking information on yet another controversial encounter case.
Top government sources confirmed to Mirror that Sharma has sought information on the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter case. The details may deepen the troubles of the Narendra Modi government.
“The Deputy Inspector General (armed units) in Rajkot has sought details of the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter case under the RTI from the office of the Director General of Police in Gandhinagar on Friday,” the source confirmed.
Seeking details of the case, the officer’s application filed under the inward number 9270 has sought information on the officers involved in the encounter, the police officials who were in the know of the encounter, the witnesses, besides, the statements, the panchnama and other details in the case, the source added.
Sharma reportedly met a couple of other officers in Gandhinagar before he filed the RTI.
When Mirror contacted Rahul Sharma, he confirmed, “Yes, I have sought information under the RTI in the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter case.”
Who is Sameer Khan Pathan ?
Sameer Khan Sarfaraz Pathan came from a poor family that lived at Saudagar ni Pol in Jamalpur. The eldest of five siblings two brothers and three sisters Sameer was 24 when he was killed in an encounter with the police. His father Sarfaraz Khan was employed as a bus driver with the AMTS. He discontinued studies after Class 7 and did odd jobs.
The police claimed that Sameer and his cousin Sahista Khan had killed a constable Vishnu when he tried to stop them from snatching a woman’s gold chain. On May 10, 1996, Sameer and Sahista were fleeing after snatching a woman’s chain near Usmanpura garden, when constables Vishnu and Anil chased them. The Khans stabbed Vishnu and Anil, killing Vishnu on the spot. Despite being injured Anil held on to Sahista Khan, while Sameer escaped. Sameer was on the run for six years, before he was caught on September 27, 2002.
The encounter theory;
According to the then DCP D G Vanzara, Sameer Khan had received terrorist training with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan and was out to kill the then Chief Minister Modi, L K Advani and Pravin Togadia.
As per the FIR registered on September 30, the then police chief K R Kaushik had intelligence information that a JeM terrorist, who was an accused in the killing of a constable, was coming from Mumbai to Gujarat. He passed the information to the then JCP P P Pandey who directed Vanzara to probe whether Sameer Khan was part of the Akshardham terror attack.
Vanzara formed a special team headed by ACP S S Chudasama and comprising Inspector Tarun Barot, A A Chauhan and H P Agrawat to nab Sameer Khan.
On a tip-off that Khan has been spotted at the Geeta Mandir bus stand, Barot, Chauhan and Agrawat along with four constables set out in three autorickshaws on the afternoon of September 27, 2002. On reaching the ST stand, Constable Nizamuddin spotted Khan, nabbed him and took him away in an auto-rickshaw.
Forensic report said that three bullets were pumped into Sameer, one on the head and two on either side of the ribs. The trajectory of the bullet that hit Sameer on his temple was vertical. According to the police, Sameer snatched Vaghela’s revolver, fired a shot at him and tried to run away. But if Sameer was running, could he be shot in the head from above was a question that many asked. The point where the bullet entered the temple was rendered black and there were some gunpowder traces, indicating that the bullet was fired from close range, the report stated. The police had claimed that Sameer was wearing a cotton shirt, whereas the post-mortem report clearly mentioned it as being a tericot shirt.
The police were granted a 14-day remand of Sameer and thereafter he was transferred to judicial custody. He was again arrested on a transfer warrant in the Constable Vishnu murder case.
On the night of October 21 at 1 am, Sameer Khan was taken to the spot where Vishnu was killed. As per the police theory, Sameer Khan snatched PSI K M Vaghela’s revolver and tried to run away, but was shot dead by the police.
In the court;
The police had presented 12 co-accused in the case against Sameer, alleging they had helped him procure fake documents, including a passport and driving licence under a false name of Nawab Khan. According to the police, Sameer had gone to Pakistan on January 13, 1998. However, the passport officer testified in the lower court that a passport under the name of Nawab Khan was delivered only on March 27, 1998.
The lower court refused to frame charges and dismissed it.
The state government then filed an appeal in Gujarat High Court, which too observed that there was no evidence to prove that Sameer Khan went to Pakistan on the date mentioned by the police and so “an adverse inference is required to be drawn against the investigating agency”. The court also held that no weapons were recovered from Sameer.
Meanwhile, Sahista Khan who was jailed for life in the constable’s murder case, through his lawyer I M Munshi filed a case in Metropolitan Magistrate P V Joshi’s court on July 18, 2007, where he had alleged that the encounter was fake and named nine police officials — J G Parmar, Tarun Barot, K M Vaghela, A A Chauhan, D H Goswami, B J Sadhuvarti, Nizamuddin Syed and Bharatsinh Vaghela as accused.
As per the case records, at the time when Sameer Khan was kept at the Crime Branch office in Gaekwad Haveli, Rajkot police had brought Saido, an accused under the Official Secrets Act.
Saido, who had filed cases against the Rajkot police, too, was taken along with Sameer Khan to the murder spot, and told this is what happens when you file complaints against the police. Saido revealed this in the metro court as a witness in the case.
Thereafter in 2007, famous lyricist Javed Akhtar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court through lawyers Prashant Bhushan and I M Munshi demanding a CBI inquiry into the Sameer Khan encounter case. The petition is pending before the apex court.
(Inputs by Vijay Zala)
“The Deputy Inspector General (armed units) in Rajkot has sought details of the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter case under the RTI from the office of the Director General of Police in Gandhinagar on Friday,” the source confirmed.
Seeking details of the case, the officer’s application filed under the inward number 9270 has sought information on the officers involved in the encounter, the police officials who were in the know of the encounter, the witnesses, besides, the statements, the panchnama and other details in the case, the source added.
Sharma reportedly met a couple of other officers in Gandhinagar before he filed the RTI.
When Mirror contacted Rahul Sharma, he confirmed, “Yes, I have sought information under the RTI in the Sameer Khan Pathan encounter case.”
Who is Sameer Khan Pathan ?
Sameer Khan Sarfaraz Pathan came from a poor family that lived at Saudagar ni Pol in Jamalpur. The eldest of five siblings two brothers and three sisters Sameer was 24 when he was killed in an encounter with the police. His father Sarfaraz Khan was employed as a bus driver with the AMTS. He discontinued studies after Class 7 and did odd jobs.
The police claimed that Sameer and his cousin Sahista Khan had killed a constable Vishnu when he tried to stop them from snatching a woman’s gold chain. On May 10, 1996, Sameer and Sahista were fleeing after snatching a woman’s chain near Usmanpura garden, when constables Vishnu and Anil chased them. The Khans stabbed Vishnu and Anil, killing Vishnu on the spot. Despite being injured Anil held on to Sahista Khan, while Sameer escaped. Sameer was on the run for six years, before he was caught on September 27, 2002.
The encounter theory;
According to the then DCP D G Vanzara, Sameer Khan had received terrorist training with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan and was out to kill the then Chief Minister Modi, L K Advani and Pravin Togadia.
As per the FIR registered on September 30, the then police chief K R Kaushik had intelligence information that a JeM terrorist, who was an accused in the killing of a constable, was coming from Mumbai to Gujarat. He passed the information to the then JCP P P Pandey who directed Vanzara to probe whether Sameer Khan was part of the Akshardham terror attack.
Vanzara formed a special team headed by ACP S S Chudasama and comprising Inspector Tarun Barot, A A Chauhan and H P Agrawat to nab Sameer Khan.
On a tip-off that Khan has been spotted at the Geeta Mandir bus stand, Barot, Chauhan and Agrawat along with four constables set out in three autorickshaws on the afternoon of September 27, 2002. On reaching the ST stand, Constable Nizamuddin spotted Khan, nabbed him and took him away in an auto-rickshaw.
Forensic report said that three bullets were pumped into Sameer, one on the head and two on either side of the ribs. The trajectory of the bullet that hit Sameer on his temple was vertical. According to the police, Sameer snatched Vaghela’s revolver, fired a shot at him and tried to run away. But if Sameer was running, could he be shot in the head from above was a question that many asked. The point where the bullet entered the temple was rendered black and there were some gunpowder traces, indicating that the bullet was fired from close range, the report stated. The police had claimed that Sameer was wearing a cotton shirt, whereas the post-mortem report clearly mentioned it as being a tericot shirt.
The police were granted a 14-day remand of Sameer and thereafter he was transferred to judicial custody. He was again arrested on a transfer warrant in the Constable Vishnu murder case.
On the night of October 21 at 1 am, Sameer Khan was taken to the spot where Vishnu was killed. As per the police theory, Sameer Khan snatched PSI K M Vaghela’s revolver and tried to run away, but was shot dead by the police.
In the court;
The police had presented 12 co-accused in the case against Sameer, alleging they had helped him procure fake documents, including a passport and driving licence under a false name of Nawab Khan. According to the police, Sameer had gone to Pakistan on January 13, 1998. However, the passport officer testified in the lower court that a passport under the name of Nawab Khan was delivered only on March 27, 1998.
The lower court refused to frame charges and dismissed it.
The state government then filed an appeal in Gujarat High Court, which too observed that there was no evidence to prove that Sameer Khan went to Pakistan on the date mentioned by the police and so “an adverse inference is required to be drawn against the investigating agency”. The court also held that no weapons were recovered from Sameer.
Meanwhile, Sahista Khan who was jailed for life in the constable’s murder case, through his lawyer I M Munshi filed a case in Metropolitan Magistrate P V Joshi’s court on July 18, 2007, where he had alleged that the encounter was fake and named nine police officials — J G Parmar, Tarun Barot, K M Vaghela, A A Chauhan, D H Goswami, B J Sadhuvarti, Nizamuddin Syed and Bharatsinh Vaghela as accused.
As per the case records, at the time when Sameer Khan was kept at the Crime Branch office in Gaekwad Haveli, Rajkot police had brought Saido, an accused under the Official Secrets Act.
Saido, who had filed cases against the Rajkot police, too, was taken along with Sameer Khan to the murder spot, and told this is what happens when you file complaints against the police. Saido revealed this in the metro court as a witness in the case.
Thereafter in 2007, famous lyricist Javed Akhtar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court through lawyers Prashant Bhushan and I M Munshi demanding a CBI inquiry into the Sameer Khan encounter case. The petition is pending before the apex court.
(Inputs by Vijay Zala)
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