Azam Khan, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing, tried to fabricate a story about an attempt on his life by shooting himself in the shoulder, say police. He, his friend and cousin are being questioned.
Khan, who had given evidence in the killing of Tulsiram Prajapati — a witness to the alleged staged shootout of Sohrabuddin, had on Tuesday claimed that "masked gunmen on motorcycles" attacked him while he was driving his car. He had sustained injuries in the right palm and shoulder.
His friend Iqbal who was with Khan told police during interrogation that Khan had fabricated the story about an attempt on his life.
Khan shot himself to come into limelight and seek police protection, police say.
"Our investigations reveal that Khan fired at himself and requested Iqbal to cook up a fake story," a senior police official said on the condition of anonymity.
Khan told Iqbal about the plan before the incident, police said.
After shooting himself he asked Iqbal to inform police that two unidentified people had attacked him and also sought the help of his cousin to dispose of the weapon, police say.
Police say there were different versions by Iqbal and Khan about the incident. Police have also failed to recover the weapon used in the attack.
"There was no witness to the incident, which is surprising," official added. "We are questioning Khan, his cousin and Iqbal."
Prajapati was killed in an alleged staged shootout in Gujarat's Banaskantha district Dec 28, 2006, over a year after Sohrabuddin was killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005.