DG Vanzara (File photograph)
Suspended IPS officer DG Vanzara has filed a defamation suit against Mufti Abdul Qayyum, an accused in Akshardham case who was acquitted last year by the Supreme Court and wrote an account of his years in prison.
A section of the memoirs, "Gyarah saal salkhon ke peeche" apparently deals with how officers of the Gujarat police, including Mr Vanzara, has falsely implicated Mr Qayyum and other people in the case.
Alleging that the book defames him, Mr Vanzara -- an accused in the Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabudin fake encounter cases who is now out on bail -- has sought damages of Rs 101 crore from the author.
The trial court, Mr Vanzara's petition pointed out, had held Mr Qayyum guilty and awarded him capital punishment, which was upheld by the Gujarat High Court.
"The book is a part of a larger conspiracy to discourage other patriotic police officers who fight against terrorism. It is nothing but an attempt to victimise me. This book contains stories which are totally false, baseless, anti-national and defamatory in nature," the petition said.
"In many cases, accused are acquitted by the Supreme Court or death penalty has been revoked... It does not mean that police officers have conducted a false probe," the petition added.
The court has issued notice to the author and a hearing has been fixed for July 31.
The Gujarat police had stopped the release of the book by the 40-year-old madrasa teacher, who was arrested in 2003. The police accused him of writing a letter that was recovered from the possession of two terrorists, who were killed in the attack.
A lower court in Gujarat sentenced him to death. But on May 17, 2014, the Supreme Court acquitted him of all charges.