Dahyaji Gobarji Vanzara is the former

Inspector-General of Police An inspector-general of police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most ...

(IG) of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was in judicial custody from 2007 until his bail in 2015 on charges of having conducted a series of

extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as an extrajudicial execution or an extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, ...

s, while heading the

Anti-Terrorist Squad The Special Tactics Group (STG) is the full-time police tactical group of the New Zealand Police. The STG, originally named the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), was established to respond to high-risk situations which are beyond the scope or capa ...

(ATS). He was discharged in the Sohrabuddin case in 2017. Vanzara joined the Gujarat Police as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in 1980; was upgraded to an IPS officer in 1987 and retired on 31 May 2014 as Deputy IG (DIG). After being cleared in

fake encounter Encounter killings, often simply referred to as encounters, is a euphemism used in South Asia to refer to extrajudicial killings by security forces. The officers typically described the incidents as a shootout situation, often allegedly starting ...

cases in February 2020, he was promoted to

(IG) post-retirement with effect from 29 September 2007.

Cases

An IPS officer of the 1987 batch, his tenure as head of the city crime bureau saw a spurt in encounter killings. The suspect killings include: * Sameer Khan (shot dead Sep 2002) * Sadiq Jamal (killed 2003) * Ishrat Jahan and three others (shot dead 15 June 2004) * Sohrabuddin Sheikh (shot dead Nov 2005) * Sheikh's wife Kausar Bi (killed in Vanzara's village) * Tulsiram Prajapati (killed on 28 December 2006) As of September 2013, there were 32 police officers, including six IPS officers, who were in jail for these encounters. Most of them had worked under Vanzara. Vanzara himself had a meteoric rise since the early 2000s, when the encounters to claiming eliminate terrorists began. In 2013, in his letter of resignation, Vanzara stated, On 18 May 2008, ex-DSP N. K. Amin, also arrested in the case, told the court, "that a police-politician-criminal nexus was in operation in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case". The high level of direct communication from

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

, as minister, to an on-duty officer has also been questioned in court. In the Tulsiram Prajapati case, the encounter killing took place in

Banaskantha district Banaskantha district is one of the Districts of Gujarat, thirty-four districts of the Gujarat States and territories of India, state of India. The administrative headquarters and largest city is Palanpur. The district is in northeastern Gujarat wh ...

. Just 13 days earlier, Vanzara was surprisingly transferred there as DIG Border range. On questioning, Amit Shah could not remember why. Shah has been indicted as the "kingpin and prime accused" in the Tulsiram Prajapati murder case. Vanzara's letter also refers to political mileage obtained from the killings. In the 2007 elections, Modi had asked the electorate as to what was to be done with people like Sohrabuddin, to thunderous responses of "Kill him!". In September 2013, after six years in prison, Vanzara, who calls himself a " nationalist Hindu" and looks upon

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

as "god", had become disgruntled. He is said to have suggested a connection between the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case and the unsolved murder of ex-BJP minister Haren Pandya, who at one time a minister under

. Pandya was shot dead while out on a morning walk in March 2003, a year after his fallout with Modi. In 2003, it was Vanzara who had originally investigated the Pandya murder. Similar claims have also been made by the DNA newspaper, which has suggested that Sheikh was eliminated because of his links to the political murder of Pandya. Vanzara was released on bail on 18 February 2015. He was acquitted in Sohrabuddin case in August 2017, due to lack of evidence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanzara, D.G. Living people Indian police chiefs Year of birth missing (living people) Prisoners and detainees of India Indian prisoners and detainees Gujarat Police Encounters in India Gujarati people Hindu nationalists Chief ministership of Narendra Modi