‘Achhe din’ back for me, says DG Vanzara after walking free on bail in Ishrat Jahan case
Ahmedabad: After spending seven and half years in jail, former Gujarat top cop D G Vanzara walked free on Wednesday after the special CBI court had granted him bail on February 5 in the fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
Vanzara was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and has been barred from entering Gujarat.
However, the ex-IPS officer has been told to mark his presence before that court on every working Saturday. He is also barred from leaving the country.
Soon after his release, an elated Vanzara said, "Surely, Acche Din (Good days) have returned for me and other Gujarat police officers."
The former Gujarat top cop alleged that the state police was targeted for "extra legal political reasons".
"Police of every state in the country fought against terrorism. But Gujarat Police was targeted by the previous political regime not for a day but for last eight years," Vanzara told reporters.
"Maximum number of encounters took place in Uttar Pradesh, while in Gujarat it was the least. But then also Gujarat Police was targeted for extra legal political reasons," he said.
Vanzara, during his stint in the city crime branch as head of State Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was made an accused in fake encounter cases of Soharabuddin Sheikh, Tulsi Prajapati and Ishrat Jahan, by the CBI.
Vanzara was arrested on April 24, 2007 by CID crime in connection with the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, and since then he is behind bars.
Vanzara was Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in the city crime branch, when a Mumbra-based college girl Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat police on the outskirts of the city on June 15, 2004.
The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT) terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed chargesheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).
Vanzara had filed for bail last year and submitted that he is behind bars for more than seven years and as the chargesheet was filed, he should be released on bail.
