Geeta Johri outside the Ahmedabad court. (AFP)

Ahmedabad, May 24: Geeta Johri, the officer who dug out fake-encounter skeletons from the Gujarat police closet, has complained to a magistrate that some seniors were trying to influence witnesses in the Sohrabuddin case.

The inspector-general of police today appeared in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court to file the complaint.

In an affidavit, Johri said Nathusinh Jadeja, a former driver with the anti-terrorist squad, had retracted his statement under duress.

On Tuesday, the driver, who is a critical witness to the Sohrabuddin encounter and the killing of his wife, retracted his statement recorded before the crime investigation department, saying he was coerced into implicating some officers.

Constable Jadeja was present in Hyderabad when Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi were abducted in November 2005 and was with the anti-terror team of D.G. Vanzara, the deputy inspector-general now in custody, till Kauser Bi was allegedly killed.

Jadeja had “surrendered” himself before the magistrate on Tuesday, saying he feared that the statement recorded by DIG Rajnish Rai, another officer who had taken on several politicians, on April 26 could be converted into a confession.

But Johri said the driver’s allegation that he was intimidated by Rai “is not true”. She claimed that the driver’s statement was recorded in the presence of two witnesses and video-graphed. The clip, which can be viewed by the court, makes it clear that the witness is under no coercion, she added.

Accepting Johri’s request, the court directed the witness to appear before the investigating officer to further record his statement.

Johri also told the court that Narendra Amin, a deputy superintendent of police who is required to give his statement, is “deliberately delaying it on some pretext”.

Amin was Vanzara’s deputy and is suspected to have been present at Arham Bungalows when Sohrabuddin’s wife was allegedly killed. The investigating agency has not been able to record Amin’s statement so far.