CBI gets until June 30 to probe Sadiq encounter case

The Gujarat High Court today accepted a request made by CBI and granted it extension till June 30 to complete investigation into the 2003 police encounter of Sadiq Jamal Mehtar. On June 16 last year, the High Court ordered a CBI probe into the killing of Sadiq by Gujarat Police in Naroda area of the city on January 13, 2003 after his family alleged that he was gunned down in a staged shootout.

At the time of the incident, the police had claimed Sadiq was on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The HC had asked the Central agency to complete investigation preferably within six months. Last month, the agency had sought an extension for six months, citing various reasons for delay in finishing its job.

One of the major reasons for delay, as claimed by CBI, was non-availability of infrastructure facility from the State Government's side. In its extension plea, the premier agency had pointed that it was operating out of a Government rest House. Justice M R Shah today granted extension to CBI till June 30 after the Government assured to provide adequate infrastructure facility to CBI.

An office was allotted to the Central agency at the Capital Planning Bhavan in Gandhinagar with computers and broadband connectivity after the HC criticised the Government for not providing infrastructure for six months.

Another reason for seeking extension, according to CBI, was pendency of a petition in the Bombay High Court challenging the summons issued by the agency to Ketan Tirodkar, a Mumbai journalist and a key witness in the case. In an affidavit filed in a Special MCOCA Court, Tirodkar had alleged that Mumbai Police's `encounter specialist' Daya Nayak had handed over Sadiq to Gujarat Police to oblige 'a big politician of Gujarat'.