Gujarat HC discharges accused policeman in Sadiq Jamal encounter case

The Gujarat high court on Friday discharged an accused policeman, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, from the encounter killing of 19-year-old youth Sadiq Jamal Mehtar. The accused policeman is the sixth accused, out of total eight who were chargesheeted by the CBI, who has been exonerated from facing the trial.

The bench of justice Gita Gopi passed the order in the open court allowing the petition of K M Vaghela, a retired DySP, who was one of the eigh accused in the case. She observed that one witness who was relied on by the CBI in its probe didn't name Vaghela in his statement. The court also considered the fact that five of the accused were discharged previously whose orders were not challenged by prosecution CBI.

Also Read — Gujarat court sentences Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment for raping disciple

Upon court's inquiry, Vaghela's lawyer, Virat Popat informed the court that Sadiq's brother Shabbir Mehtar had challenged the discharge orders in high court but withdrew all of them. Vaghela had moved the high court back in 2017 after his discharge plea was rejected by the special CBI court.

During the pendency, the CBI court discharged five accused including key accused "encounter specialist" ex Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot, Chhtrasinh Chudasama, R L Mavani and Ajaypal Yadav and Ghanshyam H Gohil. Another accused J G Parmar was abated after his death. The eighth accused Irshad Ali Saiyed's discharge plea was rejected by the CBI court on the ground of him being accused of firing at Mehtar.

The CBI investigation found that the eight policemen, posted with Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), killed Mehtar, a resident of Bhavnagar, in a staged encounter in January 2003. The probe established that accused policemen branded him as a terrorist who was on a mission to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders to avenge 2002 post-Godhra riots.