Cop accused in Vadodara custodial death case in four-day CID remand

The accused constable Mahesh Rathwa was remanded on the basis of an application submitted by the Superintendent of CID Girish Pandya stating that “despite having the knowledge of law, Rathwa had concealed information about the custodial killing at the hands of his colleagues”.

The migrant worker Babu Sheikh Nisar was allegedly tortured to death at the Fatehgunj police station in Vadodara on December 10, 2019.

In its remand application filed before the 21st Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, the CID sought a remand of five days stating, “The accused (Rathwa) was privy to the facts of the incident in which the deceased Babu Nisar was tortured to death in the computer chamber of Fatehgunj police station at the hands of the earlier arrested (six) accused… The accused (Rathwa) was also aware about the objects used in the crime that are yet to be recovered… However, he did not come forth and share the information about the crime with the police. Despite being a police officer, and being aware of the laws, Rathwa chose to conceal information about a crime…”

Nisar’s son, Salim, through his advocate Imtiyaz Qureshi, had on October 23, 2020, drawn the attention of the Gujarat High Court to Rathwa’s statement that indicated that his father’s body was “surreptitiously burnt”. The CID that is probing the case had drained the Narmada main canal in Vadodara in search for Nisar’s body, in vain. Qureshi had filed a habeas corpus petition in the HC in June 2020, asking about the body of Nisar who went missing on December 10, 2019, after he was apprehended by Fatehgunj police on suspicion of theft.

According to the police’s investigation report presented before the court, head constable at Fatehgunj police station, Mahesh Rathwa, had submitted that one of the accused, Pankajbhai, had taken his car from his residence allegedly to dispose of the body of Nisar.

As per Rathwa’s statement, on December 11, 2019, got the car back. The statement says, “…the plastic packing on the rear side of the backseat was torn and my car was muddy… Maheshbhai said, to tell you the truth, the suspect (Nisar) died after we went to Police Bhavan and we kept his body in your car and drove to Mahisgar side and burned it with wood and petrol… Inspector DB Gohil threatened me to put me in jail if I disclosed it to anyone.”

CID investigating officer Girish Pandya submitted that the accused “chose not to undergo either lie detection test or narco analysis test or the brain mapping test”.

Six of the accused in the case, arrested earlier — inspector DB Gohil, sub-inspector DM Rabari and Lok Rakshak Dal jawans Pankaj Mavjibhai, Yogendra Jilansinh, Rajiv Savjibhai and Hitesh Shambubhai are in judicial custody.
The trial commenced in the Vadodara court on December 2.