2 min readNew DelhiDec 22, 2018 07:15 PM IST
First published on: Dec 22, 2018 at 07:09 PM IST
Congress president Rahul Gandhi (File)
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Saturday took a dig at the special CBI court’s decision to acquit all 22 accused in the alleged fake encounter killings of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati in 2005.
“NO ONE KILLED…Haren Pandya. Tulsiram Prajapati. Justice Loya. Prakash Thombre. Shrikant Khandalkar. Kauser Bi. Sohrabuddin Shiekh. THEY JUST DIED,” Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
On Friday, the special CBI court cleared the names of the accused saying the evidence brought before the court could not establish the role of any of the 22 in the case.
The 22 acquitted include 21 serving and retired police personnel from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The trial, which lasted over a year, saw 210 witnesses depose, including 92 declared hostile. A detailed copy of the judgment will be made available next week.
Shaikh’s brother Rubabuddin, who was present in court, said he was disappointed at the verdict and would appeal against it in the Supreme Court. Special public prosecutor B P Raju said the CBI would decide on an appeal before the Bombay High Court after getting a copy of the judgment.
The court said that while Sohrabuddin’s death was “homicidal”, there was no evidence to link the accused to the murder. It said that the claim by the accused that Tulsiram was killed in a police encounter was “substantiated”. Between 2014 and 2018, 16 accused were discharged from the case. These included senior IPS officers, former Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria and BJP president Amit Shah.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi (File)
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