NBW issued against Sohrabuddin’s brother

Nayabuddin was to be examined as the first witness in the case on November 29, last year. Earlier this year, the court had issued a bailable warrant against him for not appearing before it.

Sohrabuddin’s younger brother, Rubabuddin, also said he has not received summons to appear before the court on Monday. The CBI, however, claimed that Rubabuddin had not accepted the summons for appearance. When contacted, Nayabuddin denied the CBI claim.

“The CBI must be tracking my location, as the officers always approach me to serve the summons when I am not present in the village. During the last visit, the officers did not even come to my house. A CBI officer called me from the police chowki… I informed him that I was not at home.” He further denied knowing that the court had also previously issued a bailable warrant against him.

On Friday, CBI investigating officer Vishwas Meena submitted a report before the court stating that on July 20, he had visited Jhirniya village in Madhya Pradesh to issue summons to Nayabuddin, Rubabuddin and Shahnawazuddin — brothers
of Sohrabuddin.

The report stated Meena attempted to contact Nayabuddin and Rubabuddin through their local police station officers. Both the men, in separate conversations, told Meena that they were not currently in the village and did not respond when asked about their location and availability, it claimed.

The report added that the summons were served to them on their cellphones through WhatsApp and were seen by both of them. Nayabuddin, however, claimed to not have seen the summons.

The report also sought a non-bailable warrant against Nayabuddin. “Read the report. The witness is avoiding attending court, as it appears from the report. Record shows that he was cited as a witness in the first list of November 2017. Since then, he is hiding his presence,” special Judge S J Sharma said in his order while issuing the NBW on Friday.

Further, the court was informed that Rubabuddin has also not received summons asking him to appear before the court on Monday. Rubabuddin told The Indian Express that when a CBI officer contacted him, he had informed him that he was not at home.

“I cannot reveal my exact location, as there is a threat to my life. I told the CBI officer, who visited our village, to contact me before coming, so I can ensure that I am present to take the summons,” he said.

It was Rubabuddin’s petition before the Supreme Court that the investigation into the encounter of Sohrabuddin, a wanted accused in many states, was conducted, leading to the arrest of many senior IPS officers. Currently, Rubabuddin has appealed before the Bombay High Court against the discharge by the trial court of three IPS officers of the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police.

Nayabuddin, in his statement before the CBI in 2010, deposed about how Sohrabuddin had informed him about a journey he was undertaking with his wife Kausarbi to go to Sangli from Hyderabad, from where they were allegedly abducted and subsequently killed. Nayabuddin had also claimed to have been offered a bribe by a Gujarat policeman to withdraw the SC petition.

On Friday, Nayabuddin claimed that he will initiate action against the CBI and the hostile witnesses in the trial. So far, 159 witnesses have been examined, of whom 89 have turned hostile.

The court also sought a report from the Udaipur SP, under whose jurisdiction one of the witnesses reside. The witness, a former co-inmate of Sohrabuddin, was also expected to appear as a prosecution witness on Friday but did not.

The witness had written previously to the court claiming that he was under threat and should be permitted to appear before court whenever he can without prior notice.