Gujarat CID counters CBI claim on RK Marbles

Jaipur: The chargesheet filed by the Gujarat's CID in the Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case runs counter to the CBI's view of the alleged role of Rajasthan-based RK Marbles in the conspiracy to kill Prajapati and Sohrabuddin Sheikh. The CBI, which is investigating the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, holds that RK Marbles is at the very heart of the conspiracy which was hatched when Sohrabuddin tried to extort money from the marble traders.

The central probe agency has indicated as much in its chargesheet in the Sohrab case though it has not attached any statement (if it has any) by the owners of marble trading house. But Vijay Patni, owner of RK Marbles, has told the Gujarat CID that he did not receive any threat or extortion demand, either from Sohrabuddin Sheikh or his aide, Tulsi Prajapati.
Hence, there was no question of his giving money to anybody to get Sohrabuddin killed by the Rajasthan or the Gujarat police, Patni has claimed.

His statement rebuts CBI's claim that Sohrabuddin was killed because he tried to extort money from the owners of RK Marbles. Patni gave his statement to CJ Goswami, detective inspector of Gujarat CID. "We never filed any complaint of extortion against Sohrabuddin Sheikh or Tulsi Prajapati as we never received an extortion threat from either," he said.

Further, his statement with reference to a petition sent by one Kewal Kumar, who claimed to be a marble trader of Rajasthan, seems to indicate that it was Kewal Kumar who had named the owners of RK Marbles as accused in the Sohrabuddin case. Kumar had made the allegation when the Tulsi Prajapati case was being investigated by Geetha Johri, then IGP of CID.

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Incidentally, the CID chargesheet is the first to mention a statement by the owners of RK Marbles. Patni further said that his joint family had been in the marble trade for the past 20 years. "I have read the petition (shown to me by an officer) written in Hindi in the name of one Kewal Kumar, said to be a marble trader. I, however, deny all the allegations made against me in the petition," he said.

"We never received any threat from Sohrabuddin, Tulsi or any other person," Patni says in his statement. "We do not have close relations with any police officer. We never sought to end the life of Sohrabuddin or Tulsi through police officers." Patni goes on to say that the petition sent by Kewal Kumar was intended to ruin his family and firm's image.

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"Someone has submitted this false petition out of jealousy. I don't know Kewal Kumar and, even if such a person exists, he does not exist in the marble trade." Parmanand Patidar, vice-president of RK Marbles, corroborated Vijay Patni's statement.

The local marble association, too, seems to be backing RK Marbles. Shrinath Chaudhari, president of Marble Gangsaw Association (MGA), Rajsamand, has sent a letter to the CID saying that there was no person like Kewal Kumar and that, in his opinion, RK marbles were being victimised in the whole matter.

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