Ex-IPS Officer DG Vanzara, Acquitted In Fake Encounter Of Ishrat Jahan, Gets Post Retirement Promotion

Former IPS officer DG Vanzara, who was accused in the alleged fake encounters of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh and was later discharged in both the cases, has been given post-retirement promotion as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) by the Gujarat government. The move comes six years after his retirement.

According to the notification issued by the state Home Department, which Vanzara tweeted on February 25 mentioned his promotion as the IGP with effect from September 29, 2007.

The alleged encounter took place in June 2004, where state police killed 19-year-old Jahan, Javed Shaikh, Amjadali Akbarali Rana, and Zeeshan Johar. The police had claimed that they had links with terrorists. Back then Vanzara headed the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad when the alleged fake encounters took place.

In May 2007, the state government suspended the officer after his arrest in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

Later he was also accused in the Ishrat Jahan case. Following this, he was discharged in both the cases by special CBI courts.

Last year, a special court in Gujarat had dropped proceedings against former Gujarat Police officers DG Vanzara and NK Amin for their alleged role in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

The court dropped the proceedings as the Central Bureau of Investigation did not get the Gujarat government's sanction to prosecute the officers. The state government denied granting sanctions and said that the concerned officers were doing their duty.

Lawyer representing -Vanzara said that the court's order establishes that the encounter was genuine.

Vanzara, a 1987 - batch IPS officer had retired in 2014 as deputy inspector general of police after spending seven years in jail.

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