Judge S.J. Sharma tells prosecutor that the Sohrabuddin case is not a foregone conclusion just because 92 witnesses have turned hostile.
Mumbai: On the final day of trial in the controversial Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the prosecution could not establish a chain of events as witnesses turned hostile and there were certain lacunae.
Special public prosecutor B.P. Raju told a special CBI trial court in Mumbai Wednesday that there was a huge time lag between when the alleged fake encounters happened and when witnesses were examined.
He also pointed out that the CBI entered the investigation only in 2010, five years after Sheikh’s alleged encounter. The investigation was being handled by the Gujarat CID before 2010.
“Witnesses may not exactly remember what happened. Even star witnesses turned hostile…that chain has gone. Those witnesses are main witnesses,” Raju told the court.
In its chargesheets, the CBI mentioned over 700 witnesses.
During the trial, which began in November 2017, only 210 prosecution witnesses were examined, of which 92 were declared hostile. Many of them were eye-witnesses whose testimonies were key to the prosecution’s theory.
Raju also said that there were some lacunae and some important witnesses were not examined.
Also read: Cop who allegedly shot Sohrabuddin Sheikh says whole case is based on ‘conjecture’
‘Not foregone conclusion’
As the trial court finished hearing final arguments, judge S.J. Sharma told the prosecutor that the case is not a foregone conclusion just because 92 witnesses have turned hostile.
“Let me examine (if) some incremental material comes up that receives corroboration and can be examined,” the judge said, adding it is not his practice to write a judgment with a biased mind.
“You have tried your level best. Now leave it up to me,” he added.
A judgement is expected in the case before the end of this year.
Also read: Court asks why Sohrabuddin probe was silent on Tulsiram Prajapati till CBI took over
The case
According to the CBI, the Gujarat and Rajasthan police allegedly abducted Sheikh, a wanted criminal, and his wife Kausar Bi along with Sheikh’s associate Prajapati when they were traveling in a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli on the night of 22 November 2005.
Sheikh was allegedly killed in a fake encounter on 26 November 2005. A few days later, Kausar Bi too was allegedly killed in the same manner and her body was burnt on a riverbank in Gujarat’s Illol village.
Prajapati was shown to have been arrested in Rajasthan, and was allegedly killed also in a fake encounter in December 2006.
Senior politicians like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and then Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, and IPS officers such as Dinesh M.N., D.G. Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian were named as conspirators in the case, but were later discharged.
Of the original 38 accused, 16 have been discharged, while 22, mostly low-rung police officials, are facing trial.
It’s strange that the prosecution is telling the court that it has failed to prove the charges – surely it is for the judge to decide that ! Looks that the prosecutor is an Amit Shah stooge !