Sohrab case: Johri interrogated again for over six hrs by CBI

Johri who is currently the Police Commissioner of Rajkot, was interrogated for six hours by the CBI at its office at the old secretariat campus, CBI sources said. She was questioned with regard to the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case last week (Aug 26) by the CBI officials. Johri may be called again if required, sources added.

Johri was interrogated twice in May by the CBI after it took over the probe following Supreme Court orders. Incidentally, the senior IPS officer has also filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court alleging that CBI has been pressurising her to implicate some political leaders, including arrested BJP leader Amit Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

In the petition she has sought removal of Balwinder Singh, CBI's Special Director who is supervising probe into the case, and said he be made a witness in it. She alleged she had been asked by CBI to depose in a particular manner in the case and that her personal assistant was threatened by CBI.

The apex court, while transferring the case to CBI had expressed displeasure at failure of Gujarat police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IGP Geetha Johri to identify the seven Andhra Pradesh police personnel, who assisted the local police in the fake encounter.

The court had said that while one of the investigating officers V L Solanki was proceeding in the right direction, Johri had not been carrying out the probe in the right manner. The SC had also come down heavily on Gujarat Police for failing to conduct impartial probe and attempting to "mislead" the apex court by filing conflicting action taken reports (ATRs) in the case.