The CBI questioned former Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria at its
Gandhinagar office in connection with the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati encounter on
Thursday, days before its deadline for completing the probe ends on June 30.
Kataria, who is an MLA from Udaipur, drove down to CBI office at Old
Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar in the afternoon and was interrogated for over four hours.
While CBI sources said the former minister was questioned in the Tulsiram case, PTI
quoted Kataria as saying he was quizzed in connection with the 2005 Sohrabuddin
encounter case.
CBI has claimed it has phone call records indicating that Kataria was in frequent
touch with police officers from Rajasthan who knew of Tulsiram's movement to Gujarat
and back.
Tulsiram, said to be an aide of gangster Sohrabuddin, was killed in a joint
operation of Rajasthan and Gujarat Police at Chhapri near Ambaji on December 28,
2006, nearly a year after Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26, 2005. Tulsiram,
according to CBI, was killed since he knew Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter.
The CBI reconstructed the Tulsiram encounter killing a few days ago at Chhapri.
The Supreme Court had handed over the Tulsiram encounter probe to CBI in April 2011.
The agency had served summons to Kataria earlier too, which he had allegedly ignored.
The SC has asked CBI to complete the probe by June 30.
Meanwhile, following Kataria's questioning, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara
Raje, who is now leader of the Opposition in state Assembly, said the Congress was
using the CBI to settle political scores. "The questioning of Gulabchand Kataria in only
one amongst many such incidents," Raje said.
Gandhinagar office in connection with the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati encounter on
Thursday, days before its deadline for completing the probe ends on June 30.
Kataria, who is an MLA from Udaipur, drove down to CBI office at Old
Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar in the afternoon and was interrogated for over four hours.
While CBI sources said the former minister was questioned in the Tulsiram case, PTI
quoted Kataria as saying he was quizzed in connection with the 2005 Sohrabuddin
encounter case.
CBI has claimed it has phone call records indicating that Kataria was in frequent
touch with police officers from Rajasthan who knew of Tulsiram's movement to Gujarat
and back.
Tulsiram, said to be an aide of gangster Sohrabuddin, was killed in a joint
operation of Rajasthan and Gujarat Police at Chhapri near Ambaji on December 28,
2006, nearly a year after Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26, 2005. Tulsiram,
according to CBI, was killed since he knew Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter.
The CBI reconstructed the Tulsiram encounter killing a few days ago at Chhapri.
The Supreme Court had handed over the Tulsiram encounter probe to CBI in April 2011.
The agency had served summons to Kataria earlier too, which he had allegedly ignored.
The SC has asked CBI to complete the probe by June 30.
Meanwhile, following Kataria's questioning, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara
Raje, who is now leader of the Opposition in state Assembly, said the Congress was
using the CBI to settle political scores. "The questioning of Gulabchand Kataria in only
one amongst many such incidents," Raje said.
