Sohrabuddin shootout: CBI team visits accused cop’s village

GANDHINAGAR - The CBI team, re-investigating the killing of young Muslim man Sohrabuddin Sheikh in an alleged shootout with police in Gujarat, visited Wednesday the village of former deputy inspector general D.G. Vanzara, who is the main accused in the case.

After the CBI took over the investigation of the case from the Gujarat police on the direction of the Supreme Court, this was the third visit of the CBI team to Illol village within a week.

The team surveyed the farm house owned by Vanzara in the village and took samples of earth from several places, particularly the dry well at the backyard of the house.

Though Sohrabuddin was killed in what has now been accepted as a fake encounter, his wife Kausarbi disappeared without a trace. She was reported to have been initially kept in a farmhouse near the state capital, the state crime branch team which investigated the case earlier had surmised.

Subsequently, she is alleged to have been killed and her body disposed of in an dry well in the native village of DIG Vanzara. This, however, remained unconfirmed since the state police did not throw up any tangible evidence to corroborate it.

Evidence of Kausarbi’s killing is the biggest challenge before the investigating CBI officers to plug the loopholes and pin the police officers and men allegedly involved in the killing of at least three other people.

Fourteen police officers and men of both Gujarat and Rajasthan are behind bars in connection with the killings.