Valsad cops suspended for treating accused in journalist’s murder in a hotel

SURAT: Valsad superintendent of police Prem Vir Singh on Wednesday suspended four policemen caught on camera treating four accused in journalist Ashok Shah murder case to food in a hotel.
The policemen were taking the accused to Navsari sub-jail on the afternoon of May 11 after their remand in the police custody was over. The cops and the accused reportedly had lunch together at Sheetal Hotel near Navsari town that afternoon and that they were caught on the camera.
Acting on the newspaper reports and the evidence submitted by the slain journalist Ashok Shah’s son, Punyapal Shah, Valsad police superintendent had ordered an inquiry into the incident to the local crime branch (LCB) after more than three days of the incident.
Sources said that the video shooting and pictures of the policemen treating the four accused were taken into account as the prima facie evidence and the cops were suspended.
It must be noted that Valsad district does not have jail of its own and therefore all accused sent to judicial custody are either sent to Navsari sub-jail or Lajpore Central Jail in Surat.Shah was murdered near Dungari village on March 31, 2009.
The suspended cops have been identified as assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Shanker Ganpat Sawant, police constables—Elam Bhoye, Mnesh Vasava—and the driver of the police van Hitesh Gamit.
The CID (crime), Gandhinagar had arrested four persons namely Ehtashamuddin alias Bhuriyo Nazimuddin Kazi, Izharmuddin Nazimuddin Kazi, Wasimuddin Nazimuddin Kazi and Abdul Kadar Khan in connection with the murder.