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Journalism of Courage
Two more witnesses turned hostile in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounters case on Monday, taking the count to 64. The witnesses, both of whom had signed panchnamas during the investigation, told the court that the police took their signatures without explaining the contents.
One of the witnesses said that he was sitting in a salon in his village in Gujarat when the police approached him. “I do not know the contents of the panchnama, I was just directed to sign on the papers by the policeman. I do not remember who he was,” the witness told the court.
The second witness said he was sitting on a railway crossing when the policemen approached him and directed him to sign on a register and papers. “I asked them what it was about but was not told anything. The police took my sign and left,” the witness said.
The CBI claims that two separate panchnamas with the specimen signatures of the accused; the then Gujarat police sub-inspectors Balkrishna Chaubey and Naresh Chauhan were drawn. According to the CBI, the witnesses were shown a vehicle logbook pertaining to November 2005, when a Gujarat police team had allegedly carried out the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin. Entries in the logbook stated the purpose of use of the vehicle as ‘secret inquiry’. The witnesses, however, denied being shown the logbook. So far, 98 prosecution witnesses have been examined.
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