Gujarat cop moves court against FIR in 26-year-old case

GANDHINAGAR - Additional Director General of Police Kuldip Sharma Thursday moved the Gujarat High Court seeking to quash a first information report (FIR) registered by the state police accusing him of murder in a gunfight in Kutch district 26-years ago.

Sharma, who was then the district superintendent of police, filed the the petition before a single judge bench of Akil Kureshi, submitting that many of the witnesses and documentary evidence would have been lost by this time and hence he would lose his chance to defend himself if the case continues.

He also alleged that the Gujarat chief minister nursed a personal grudge against him, and therefore the FIR was registered by the state police against him in such an old case.

Further hearing on the petition will continue Friday.

Two people, identified as Umarvali Mamad and Fakira Buddha, were killed in a gunfight with police in Kutch May 10, 1984 and then police sub inspector R.S.I. Bishnoi was named as an accused in the case but Sharma was not named. A sessions court in Bhuj found Bishnoi not guilty and had released him.

Police registered an FIR in this case based on a letter written by Jusab Mokha, a resident of Paiya in Kutch, to the state police chief, alleging Sharma and others killed five members of a family, stole their property and destroyed the evidence.

Sharma was the incharge of the state Crime Branch when the first report on the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake shootout case was submitted to the the Supreme Court and is presently managing director of the Gujarat State Sheep and Wool Development Corporation.