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Journalism of Courage
Senior BJP leader and Rajasthan Opposition leader Gulabchand Kataria was on Tuesday granted interim relief from arrest by a sessions court in Mumbai till June 14 in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
On May 14,CBI SP Sandeep Tamgadge had filed a 550-page third supplementary chargesheet naming Kataria along with Vimal Patni,a marble baron from Udaipur,Andhra IPS officer Narsimha Balasubramanyam and another police officer G Srinivasa Rao as accused in the case.
Katarias counsel Girish Kulkarni had moved for anticipatory bail,claiming he had no role in the fake encounter and that he was being wrongly charged without evidence. The CBI chargesheet says Patni conspired to kill Sohrabuddin and it was facilitated by Kataria. The agency,along with other evidence,is relying on their call records to establish its claim.
The chargesheet says Patni was asked by Sohrabbudin,a member of a local extortion gang,to pay Rs 25 crore as protection fee and so he approached politicians and IPS officers in Rajasthan to tame his growing influence. While arguing for anticipatory bail Tuesday,Katarias counsel said that the CBI has not gathered any substantial evidence.
In the previous two chargesheets,the CBI had named 19 persons,including suspended Gujarat IPS officers D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian,and former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah.
Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly abducted by Gujarat ATS and killed near Gandhinagar in November 2005.
