Sohrabuddin encounter case: Bombay HC to conduct final hearing in December

The court directed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which conducted the probe in the case, serve the notices to those accused who are not appearing through their lawyers, through the officers in charge of the respective police stations. The case is likely to be heard on December 5.

On December 21, 2018, the special CBI court in Mumbai acquitted all 22 accused arrested for the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati, along with the murder of Shaikh’s wife, Kauser Bi. The court had said that the prosecution had not been able to satisfactorily prove that the accused, including 21 serving and retired police personnel from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, were guilty of conspiracy, murder and other charges. The court said that while the key eyewitnesses were the main foundation of the prosecution, they had turned hostile.

The trial began in November 2017, and 210 witnesses were examined, of which 92 turned hostile.

The case dates back to November 23, 2005, when Shaikh, a wanted criminal, wife Kauser Bi and aide Prajapati were allegedly abducted from a luxury bus on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra from Hyderabad. The CBI had claimed that while Shaikh and Kauser Bi were taken to Gujarat, Prajapati was shown to have been arrested from Bhilwara in Rajasthan on November 26, 2005. Subsequently, Shaikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter, and Prajapati too, a month later. Kauser Bi, the CBI had claimed during the trial, was also killed and her body disposed of.

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