Manikmusicscapgk at 12:11, 23 March 2026

2026-03-23T12:11:19Z

New page

{{Short description|2005 Indian death in custody}}
{{infobox person|image=|known_for=death in custody}}

'''Tulsiram Prajapati''' was a man, who was killed while in custody at 5 am on 26 December 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/prajapati-killing-trial-against-former-gujarat-minister-amit-shah-stayed-502160|title=Prajapati killing: Trial against former Gujarat minister Amit Shah stayed|website=NDTV.com|date=18 October 2012}}</ref> The case is widely believed<ref name=hindu/> to have been an [[encounter killing]] by the [[Gujarat Police]]. DIG [[D.G. Vanzara]] has been in jail for seven years, on charges of having organised this encounter, among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/vanzara-letter-636519.html|title=Gujarat IPS officer Vanzara quits, says his 'god' Modi shielding Amit Shah|date=Sep 3, 2013|publisher=CNN-IBN}}</ref>

On 8 April 2011, the [[Supreme Court of India]] directed the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] (CBI) to take up the investigation.<ref name=hindu>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Supreme-Court-orders-probe-into-all-fake-encounters-in-Gujarat/article13381810.ece|title=Supreme Court orders probe into all fake encounters in Gujarat|first=J.|last=Venkatesan|date=25 January 2012|via=www.thehindu.com|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref>

== Arrests ==
The case came into prominence in 2012, when the CBI, in its chargesheet, listed Gujarat home minister and leading [[BJP]] politician [[Amit Shah]] as the "kingpin and prime accused"<ref>
{{cite news
| title = Tulsiram Prajapati encounter: CBI names Amit Shah as kingpin
| publisher = Indian Express
| url = http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/tulsiram-prajapati-encounter-cbi-names-amit-shah-as-kingpin/1004520/
| date = Sep 18, 2012
}}</ref> in the case. Amit Shah was arrested in October 2012. Earlier, an unprecedented total of 32 police officers Himanshu Singh Rajawat, Shyamsingh Charan, Ashish Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Kartar Singh, Narayansingh Chauhan, Jethasingh Solanki, Kanjibhai Kutchi, Vinodkumar Limbachiya Kiransingh Chauhan and Karansingh Sisodiya, Vijaykumar Rathod,<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Press Trust of India |date=2018-12-21 |title=Sohrabuddin encounter case: List of all 22 accused acquitted by Delhi HC |work=Business Standard India |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/sohrabuddin-encounter-case-list-of-all-22-accused-acquitted-by-delhi-hc-118122100460_1.html |access-date=2022-05-05}}</ref> including six [[Indian Police Service|IPS]] officers including [[D. G. Vanzara|D. G. Vanjara]] and [[Rajkumar Pandian]] of Gujarat cadre and [[Dinesh MN|Dinesh M.N.]] of Rajasthan cadre, had been arrested for the series of "encounter deaths".<ref name=letter>{{Cite web | url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-modi-was-my-god-amitbhai-usurped-his-eyes-and-ears-/1164159/ | title=Excerpts from Vanzara's letter: Modi was my god - Indian Express| date=4 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Langa |first1=Mahesh |last2=Singh |first2=Vijaita |date=2018-12-20 |title=Gujarat police officer who probed Sohrabuddin Sheik encounter case suspended |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gujarat-police-officer-who-probed-sohrabuddin-sheik-encounter-case-suspended/article25790760.ece |access-date=2022-05-05 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

According to the [[Central Bureau of Investigation|CBI]], Prajapati was a witness to the encounter death of [[Sohrabuddin Sheikh]] in 2005, and this was why he had to be eliminated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main30.asp?filename=Ne120507Death_by_CS.asp&id=2 |title=Tehelka - The People's Paper |website=www.tehelka.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202081121/http://tehelka.com/story_main30.asp?filename=Ne120507Death_by_CS.asp&id=2 |archive-date=2010-02-02}}</ref>

The encounter killing took place in [[Banaskantha district]]. Vanzara, known to be close to Amit Shah and [[Narendra Modi]], the [[List of chief ministers of Gujarat|Chief Minister of Gujarat]] at the time, had been transferred there as DIG Border range just 13 days earlier. Shah claimed that the transfer was an administrative move, not connected to the encounter.<ref>
{{cite news
| title = CBI to question Amit Shah again in Prajapati case
| author = Vinay Kumar
| work = The Hindu
| url = http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/cbi-to-question-amit-shah-again-in-prajapati-case/article2788919.ece
| date = January 10, 2012
}}</ref>

==Possible involvement in Haren Pandya assassination==
In September 2013, after six years in prison, [[D. G. Vanzara|Vanzara]] who called Modi "my God", became disgruntled,<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/printarticle.aspx?page=comments&action=translate&sectid=2&contentid=2013090420130904030303562a3d65975&subsite= |title=Ahmedabad Mirror |access-date=2013-10-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606221030/http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/printarticle.aspx?page=comments&action=translate&sectid=2&contentid=2013090420130904030303562a3d65975&subsite= |archive-date=2014-06-06 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
| title = DG Vanzara on Narendra Modi: My 'god' has betrayed me
| author = PTI
| date = Sep 3, 2013
| url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/DG-Vanzara-on-Narendra-Modi-My-god-has-betrayed-me/articleshow/22264684.cms
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130905125006/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-03/india/41725953_1_tulsi-prajapati-gujarat-cid-amit-shah
| url-status = live
| work = [[The Times of India]]
| archive-date = September 5, 2013
}}</ref> and apparently claimed a connection between the Tulsiram Prajapati and the unsolved murder of ex-BJP minister [[Haren Pandya]],<ref>
{{cite news
| title = DG Vanzara sings about Haren Pandya murder, says it was political conspiracy: CBI
| url = http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-21/india/42271814_1_sadiq-jamal-encounter-case-tulsiram-prajapati
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130924000959/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-21/india/42271814_1_sadiq-jamal-encounter-case-tulsiram-prajapati
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = September 24, 2013
| date = September 21, 2013
| work = [[The Times of India]]
|access-date=2013-09-30}}</ref> who was at one time a minister under [[Narendra Modi]]. 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.<ref>{{cite news
|title = The Emperor Uncrowned : The rise of Narendra Modi
|author = Vinod K Jose
|publisher = Caravan magazine
|url = http://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/emperor-uncrowned
|date = March 2012
|access-date = 2013-09-30
|archive-date = 2013-10-01
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131001133519/http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/emperor-uncrowned
|url-status = dead
}}</ref>
Similar claims have also been made by the [[Daily News and Analysis|DNA]] newspaper,<ref name=dna>
{{cite news
| title = Was it Tulsiram Prajapati who killed Haren Pandya?
| publisher = DNA (newspaper)
| date = August 30, 2011
| url = https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-was-it-tulsiram-prajapati-who-killed-haren-pandya-1581624
|access-date=2013-09-30}}</ref> which has suggested that Sheikh was eliminated because of his links to the political murder of Pandya.

==CBI reconstruction of the case==
The CBI and a team of forensic science experts reconstructed the alleged fake encounter of Tulsi Prajapati by Gujarat police in 2006 at Chhapri village in the district on July 8, 2011. The team headed by Rajendra Singh of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), and [[Tirath Das Dogra|T D Dogra]] of Forensic Medicine Department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), began the reconstruction early morning. The forensic experts and CBI were assisted by state [[Criminal Investigation Department (India)|CID]] officials. CID was investigating the case before the Supreme Court transferred it to the central agency. The experts obtained crucial data such as the distance between the police vehicle and the car in which Prajapati was travelling, location of Prajapati's body after the encounter as per the CID's FIR, how police officers fired at Prajapati and the distance from which they fired.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/latest-news/cbi-reconstructs-tulsi-prajapati-fake-encounter/|title=CBI reconstructs Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter|date=9 July 2011|publisher=The Indian Express|access-date=21 April 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord missing|India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prajapati, Tulsiram}}
[[Category:December 2006 in India]]
[[Category:2006 crimes in India]]
[[Category:Encounters in India]]
[[Category:Extrajudicial killings in India]]
[[Category:Deaths in police custody in India]]
[[Category:Deaths by person in India]]
[[Category:Police brutality in India]]
[[Category:Police brutality in the 2000s]]

Killing of Tulsiram Prajapati - Revision history

Manikmusicscapgk at 12:11, 23 March 2026