Sohrabuddin case: CBI now turns gaze on Andhra cops

HYDERABAD: The verbal duel between BJP and Congress over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case has now put pressure on CBI to unravel the involvement of the Andhra policemen in the episode.



While the heat is still on Gujarat politicians and cops, AP police have managed to keep their involvement under wraps till now. CBI chief investigator DIG Kandaswamy told TOI, \"Investigations are still on.\"



A team of AP policemen had provided logistic support to Gujarat ATS in keeping tabs on Sohrabuddin while he was in Hyderabad and to nab him and his wife Kauserbi outside the Andhra Pradesh borders when they were travelling by a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in November 2005. Sohrabuddin was then killed in a fake encounter near Ahmedabad and his wife murdered later.



In its order handing over the case to CBI in January this year, the Supreme Court had stated that seven Hyderabad cops had accompanied the Gujarat ATS team members when they picked up the couple. Slamming the Gujarat CID, the apex court had said the probe was not running in the proper direction as \"the chargesheet does not reveal the identity of the police personnel of Andhra Pradesh.\" This is said to be one of the prime reasons for the case to be handed over to CBI.



CBI is now trying to find out how many AP cops were involved in helping the Gujarat ATS team. Till date, the AP police have sent profiles of 12 cops who have been declared \'absconders\' in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. All the AP cops are said to be from Central Crime Station headed by additional commissioner of police, crimes.



Sources said their names were still not clear. The names of one IPS officer and an inspector have also cropped up. CBI has questioned five officers named as witnesses in the case by Gujarat CID. They are: AP cadre IPS officers —Rajiv Trivedi (ex-additional CP, crimes, in November 2005), Anil Kumar, T V Sashidhar Reddy, AP state service officer, L K Shinde and E Radhakrishnaiah, a 1986-batch Gujarat cadre officer, who was posted as DIG, CRPF in Hyderabad at that time.
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