IPS officer appears as witness in Sohrab case

Mumbai: IPS officer Rajesh Sharma, who was the deputy SP (prison), Udaipur, Rajasthan, on Saturday appeared before the court as a witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

He informed the court that senior officer Dinesh M.N., along with other staff, had visited the jail to look for Sheikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati as they had criminal records and were involved in several crimes.

Mr Sharma told the court that he had been in constant touch with Dinesh M.N. and sometimes, the latter sought information about Sheikh and Prajapati but he could not provide the same as he did not have it.

Mr Sharma also told the court that he had come to know about Sheikh’s encounter through the newspapers.

A few days later, he had received a phone call from Dinesh M.N., who informed him about Prajapati’s arrest and also sought to know about the communal situation in Ujjain after Sheikh’s encounter.

According to the witness, he had also received a call from D.G. Vanzara, asking about the communal situation after Sheikh’s encounter.

The witness said that he had also interrogated Prajapati after his arrest, and Prajapati had told him that he was working with Sheikh since a long time and that both of them were allegedly involved in serious criminal activities such as murder and demand for ransom from businessmen involved in the marble mines.

Dinesh M.N. and Vanzara have already been discharged from the fake encounter case by the court.

He informed the court that senior officer Dinesh M.N., along with other staff, had visited the jail to look for Sheikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati.