Front Page

Gujarat government rebuts report on Johri enquiry

`IG, CID Crime submitted only one report, no interference'

The Home Secretary, Government of Gujarat has sent this rebuttal of the news stories published in The Hindu of May 5, 2007 on the Geetha Johri enquiry into the fake encounter killings:

Apropos of news item under the caption ``Geetha Johri Report speaks of collusion of State government'' by Neena Vyas published in the online edition of The Hindu , a National Newspaper, on 5th May 2007, it is clarified that the news item is baseless and misleading and such news items should not have been published in such a reputed newspaper without verifying the veracity of the facts, especially when the investigation is on and the Supreme Court case is pending.

No reference to Shah

The news item mentions about the alleged interference of the Minister of State for Home, Shri Amit Shah, in the alleged fake encounter of three persons. It is put on record that IG, CID Crime, Smt. Geetha Johri, had submitted only one report to the DGP with a copy to the Registrar, Supreme Court. The DGP had categorically asked for Smt. Geetha Johri's comment on such news being flashed in various media on 25-4-2007 on which she had specifically replied to DGP on 26th April 2007 in the following terms:

``It may please be noted that except for report No.677/Pre. Inq./06 dated 7.12.2006 sent on behalf of CID Crime in the above case to the DGP office, I have not sent or signed any other report on this issue. The above report does not mention names of any police officer or the Hon'ble Minister.''

Further she has mentioned in her reply that ``I was entrusted with this Preliminary Enquiry w.e.f. June 2006 till 6.3.2007 when further investigation in the above case was taken up by a Special Investigation Team. The preliminary inquiry was done in a fair and impartial manner with no interference from any quarter.''

Hence, relying on the allegations of petitioners, such an article levelling serious allegation of collusion of state government should not have been published. It is requested kindly to give suitable clarification immediately.

Correction, clarification

The Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu responds:

On May 5, 2007, The Hindu published two news stories — ``Geetha Johri report speaks of `collusion of State government''' and ``Interim reports detail role of police officers.'' These reports drew on a 24-page text titled ``Facts of the Case,'' and supporting official documents in English and Gujarati. These papers contain exhaustive details of Enquiry No. 66/2006 carried out by Inspector of Police V. L. Solanki under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police, Geetha Johri, into the extra-judicial killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Kausarbi, and Tulsiram Prajapati by the Gujarat police.

The 24-page ``Facts of the Case'' was provided to our correspondent by a privileged source within the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday along with a number of indexed annexures. These included Ms. Johri's signed five-page report, dated December 7, 2006, to the DGP, and four interim reports of 1.9.2006, 7.12.2006, 16.12.2006 and 22.1.2007 of Preliminary Enquiry No. 66/2006 of State CID (Crime).

The other annexures consisted of copies of various FIRs filed, as well as the petition of Sohrabuddin's brother, Rubahbuddin, to the Supreme Court.

It is now clear, as the Gujarat Government's response published here points out, that the 24-page document is not the Geetha Johri report. The Hindu retracts its front-paged assertion that the Johri report speaks of ``collusion of the State government'' and of the role of Mr. Amit Shah, Minister of State for Home; and also that it recommends a CBI enquiry. We deeply regret these serious errors in a story that drew on documents we relied upon in good faith. We agree that we should have verified the facts, especially those relating to the provenance of ``Facts of the Case,'' before publishing the news stories.

However, it must be noted that these documents detail the chilling sequence of events unearthed by IGP Johri and her team, including the repeated attempts made to derail the investigation and also spread disinformation about Kausarbi with the intention of covering up her murder. ``Facts of the Case'' ends with the recommendation that the entire enquiry should be entrusted at once to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Our privileged BJP source claims that the 24-page document is a reliable record of what happened and that the complete truth of this will be established when the matter is properly investigated at the instance of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, we are trying to verify the provenance and authorship of ``Facts of the Case,'' although the authenticity of the supporting official papers is not in question. To the best of our knowledge, the 24-page document does not rely on the petitioner's allegations.

The facts and circumstances of the fake encounter killings, and the cover-up attempts that now seem to have been defeated thanks to the vigilance of the highest court in the land and the efforts of honest and independent police officers underline the imperative need to hand over the investigation to the CBI, which can handle this matter without fear or favour and bring the criminals to justice.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu