IPS officer sent to judicial custody in Sohrabuddin case

GANDHINAGAR - Deputy commissioner of the Ahmedabad crime branch Abhay Chudasama, accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake shootout case, was Wednesday sent to judicial custody after the CBI demand for additional seven days’ remand was turned down.

Chudasama, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was presented before the court on the completion of his seven days’ remand with a request for a further equal extension to probe certain important aspects of the investigations into the Sohrabuddin case.

Chudasma’s lawyer, however, opposed the remand extension on ground of his ill health and said that the period already made available was enough for questioning the IPS officer.

He also requested the court for directions to keep Chudasma separate from other prisoners as many who had been sent to jail by him were serving terms and could endanger his life.

The lawyer also advanced the plea for medical help and even necessary hospitalisation, due to his ill health. The court will take a decision on the request Thursday. The police officer was arrested April 28.

Meanwhile, superintendent of the Anti-Terrorist Squad G.L. Singhal, who was posted in Gandhinagar when Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake shootout, was questioned by the CBI on Wednesday.

A spokesman of the IPS Association said while it was not inclined to get itself involved into the legalities of the arrests, it was concerned about the family members of the arrested officers and sought the intervention of the state government.