Amin’s bid to turn approver may not be a cakewalk

GANDHINAGAR - Jailed former deputy superintendent of police in Gujarat N.K. Amin, whose plea to turn approver in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing case is slated to come up for hearing Aug 3, may find the going tough in his bid to seek pardon.

The Central Bureau of India (CBI), in its 3,000-page chargesheet filed in the staged shootout case, has given clear indications that it proposed to turn suspended sub-inspector V.A. Rathod and constables Santram Sharma and Ajay Parmar as approvers in the case, sources said.

Amin, an accused in the killing currently lodged in a jail in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad, does not appear to be among the list of those whom the investigating agency wants to bank upon for its case against the accused, including former minister Amit Shah.

According to sources, the chargesheet stated that there was no tangible evidence against Rathod, Sharma and Parmar in the case.

It is the testimony of the three that will nail Amin, sources said.

The CBI suspects that Amin is the officer who injected some drug into Kauserbi, wife of Sheikh, while she was kept by Gujarat police at the Arham farm bungalow near Gandhinagar, sources said.

According to a testimony recorded by the CBI, Amin was responsible for ordering wood that was used to burn Kauserbi’s body after she was strangled. Thus, the testimony of three policemen identified by the CBI for possibly making them approvers will help nail Amin.

Already eight co-accused of Amin have opposed his plea to turn approver. Among those who objected to Amin being made approver were former Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara, and two former Superintendents of Police Rajkumar Pandian and M.N. Dinesh lodged in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad.

Amin, a medico who has done his MBBS from B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, earlier claimed that though he was keen to join the Indian Police Service, he had to go into medicine to honour the desire of his grandfather.

It was only after his grandfather passed away that Amin unsuccessfully tried his hand at the service. He managed to get through as a deputy superintendent of police in the state police.

He is also facing probes in other criminal cases. While posted at Valsad district, he was involved in an alleged custody death of a retired armyman, Pratap Save.

The victim was an environmentalist leading an agitation against setting up of a port at Maroli. The case is still being investigated.

Amin’s name also figured in Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate S.P. Tamang’s report on the Ishrat Jahan stage shootout case.

Mumbai college girl, Ishrat, was picked up with three others from Mumbai June 12, 2004, kept in a safe house on the outskirts of Ahmedabad before being killed in a suspected staged shootout June 15, 2004.

Amin was an Assistant Commissioner of police posted with the Ahmedabad crime branch then.

The Gujarat High Court is currently seized with a plea for handing over the investigation of the case to the CBI which has been opposed by the Gujarat government.