Jaipur, May 15: After Gujarat, the CBI has now turned its sight on Rajasthan as it probes the alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati, sending the state police into a tizzy.
A number of top cops from Gujarat are already in the dock for their alleged involvement in the case and now the CBI has summoned senior IPS officers from Rajasthan for questioning.
It is learnt that about half a dozen senior cops including four IPS officers are under the CBI scanner in connection with the encounters that were allegedly carried out jointly by the Gujarat and Rajasthan police.
Sources said the CBI has summoned these officers after getting some concrete leads. Among those summoned are an officer of the rank of Inspector General and four superintendents of police.
On Wednesday, the CBI team camping in Udaipur sent a notice to the director general of police ( DGP) H. C. Meena asking him to ensure that the four IPS officers are available to the agency for questioning.
This was done after one of the officers, posted as IG in Udaipur, did not turn up for questioning.
Sources said that after getting the CBI summons, the IG concerned left for Jaipur instead of coming down to Udaipur. He is understood to have gone underground, sources said.
The three other IPS officers are currently posted as SPs in different districts.
It is learnt that as the IG concerned did not turn up in Udaipur, he has been summoned to Mumbai for questioning.
DGP Meena said he is not aware of any notice from the CBI but assured that the state agency would cooperate with the CBI in the investigation.
Prajapati, a friend of Sohrabuddin and witness to the encounter case, was gunned down in 2006 and there were pointers that it too may have been a “ stage- managed” killing.
Prajapati was shot dead in an “ encounter” by the special operation group (SOG) of Gujarat’s Banaskantha Police at a time when the Gujarat CID (crime), which was probing the Sohrabuddin case, was trying to get in touch with him to record his statement.
Sources revealed that the CBI team had also questioned Udaipur deputy SP Sudhir Joshi and Hiranmagri SHO Bhanwar Singh, who had picked up Prajapati in connection with a murder.
Udaipur police had escorted Prajapati to Gujarat for a court hearing. He was killed on his way back.
Prajapati is believed to have been working as a shooter for Sohrabuddin who was allegedly engaged in extortion from marble mine operators.
CBI is investigating, among other things, whether the mining lobby had wanted to get rid of Sohrabuddin and had allegedly given “ supari” ( contract) to the Gujarat and Rajasthan police.
Sources said the CBI is yet to ascertain whether the Rajasthan cops were directly involved in the “ encounter” or were acting as middlemen between the mining mafia and the Gujarat police.
Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter on November 26, 2005, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. His wife Kausar Bi was later killed and her body disposed of.
–Agencies