Senior Gujarat cops, accused in fake encounter killings, forced to resign by SC

After taking into consideration their affidavits, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud directed them to quit by the end of the day.

Both Amin and Barot are accused in encounter killing cases involving the deaths of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan.

Amin, who was allegedly involved in disposing the body of Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s wife Kausarbi in 2005, retired from his post as Superintendent of Police (SP) in August 2016 but was re-appointed as SP of Mahisagar district in Gujarat for a period of one year.

Barot was re-appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police with Western Railways at Vadodara for one year following his retirement.

On Wednesday, the  Supreme Court had questioned the Gujarat government’s decision to re-induct N K Amin after retirement, observing  he  had  serious charges against him and had spent eight years in jail.

Giving the state government a day’s time to take a final decision, the top court had said, “Either you take a call by tomorrow or we will deal with the issue. There were two serious allegations against him and in one case he has been in jail for eight years.”

The court was hearing a PIL filed by retired IPS officer Rahul Sharma challenging the appointments of Amin and Tarun Barot (retired) as Tapi SP and DSP (Railways), respectively.

The apex court had earlier sought the state government’s response on the petition, which alleged that Amin faced trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan fake encounter, while Barot was accused in the Sadiq Jaman and Ishrat Jahan cases.

Amin was, however, acquitted in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.