Fake, Encountered

• Very little material evidence has been collected
  
• Statements of the accused as well as key witnesses have not been recorded before a magistrate
  
• Confessions before an investigating officer can always be retracted in court
  
• Excavations in Vanzara's farmhouse have drawn a blank
  
• No witness has turned approver

***

For all practical purposes, the Sohrabuddin case is one of triple murder. His wife Kauserbi is also believed to have been killed by Vanzara & Co. So was Tulsiram Prajapati, a small-time crook and friend of Sohrabuddin. He had helped the stf track their man to Hyderabad. Apparently, Prajapati was bumped off because he knew too much.

While Sohrabuddin's killing has been dismissed by many in the Gujarat police establishment as another instance of a gangster or terrorist being bumped off, and human rights issues being raised, what is worrying for the government is the political fallout if the case is investigated by an agency like the CBI over which it has no authority. It is believed that heads of senior politicians and police officers could roll if investigations are broadened to cover other alleged encounters in the state.

Already the mishandling of the case by state home minister Amit Shah has made Narendra Modi see red. Given a dressing down, Shah, one of the most powerful ministers in the cabinet, was missing from the Gujarat Day celebrations on May 1 at Junagadh. He also did not attend two cabinet meetings. He was present at the third one, but he left for home immediately after it. Perhaps he, like many others in the home department, is worried about which way the tide will turn on May 15.