Ahmedabad Newsline: Ahmedabad: Sunday, June 03, 2012.
Two of Gujarat’s feared encounter specialists, IPS officers D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, who have been cooling ther heels in the Sabarmati Central Jail for the last five years in connection with the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter killing, are now locked in a bitter feud.
In fact, according to jail staff, the hostility between them has escalated to a point where the authorities have decided to separate and shift them to different barracks.
At present, Vanzara and Pandian are lodged in adjoining cells in Sardar Yard of the jail.
“The two (Vanzara and Pandian) have been fighting over petty issues. The most recent tussle was when Pandian was watching television and Vanzara objected to this. There was tension. They didn’t talk directly, but through jail guards, who found themselves in a difficult position,” sources said.
According to jail officials, Pandian is sore that Vanzara was being given a preferential treatment by the staff and has even filed several RTI applications, one of which seeks to know the expenses incurred on a convocation for prisoners held in December 2011 during which Vanzara and Ahmedabad blasts accused Safdar Nagori reportedly gave controversial speeches. Vanzara and Nagori had secured top ranks in a diploma course offered by Annamalai University’s distance education programme and a convocation was held inside the jail to award the diplomas.
“Pandian has also sought to know through his RTI application as to who who gave permission to Vanzara to speak during the convocation. He has also been filing RTI applications seeking information about some ‘privileges’ that Vanzara enjoys in the jail,” sources said.
Besides Vanzara and Pandian, there are 10 other policemen from Gujarat and Rajasthan who are lodged in Sardar Yard of Sabarmati jail for their role in the Sohrabuddin encounter killings case. Earlier this week, four of them, all from Rajasthan Police, were shifted out of Sardar Yard.
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