Gujarat's 'Encounter Cop' DG Vanzara retires in jail

Later, he was also made accused in the fake encounter cases of Ishrat Jahan, Tulsiram Prajapati and Sadik Jamal Mehtar.
   
Recently, some of his junior officers, including Abhay Chudasama and Rajkumar Pandian were granted bail by the court. Though Vanzara had also sought release, CBI opposed his plea in the Mumbai court, which denied him bail.

Vanzara, who had joined the police service as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySp) in 1980, was promoted as an IPS officer in 1987. He served as Deputy Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad Crime Branch and was later promoted as DIG. He has also worked as DIG, Anti Terrorism Squad in Ahmedabad.

In May 2013, Vanzara resigned from service and sent a letter to the Director General of Police in which he blamed former Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for making him and other police officials "scapegoats" in fake encounter cases.

In the letter, Vanzara termed Mr Modi, then the Chief Minister, as his 'God', who was working under Mr Shah's "influence".
   
However, his resignation was not accepted by the state Home Department.

Meanwhile, Vanzara was taken to the civil hospital for a routine medical check up.