Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case: CBI court acquits all 22 accused

Mumbai: A special CBI court here on Friday acquitted all the 22 persons accused in the alleged fake encounter killing of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati.

Special CBI Judge S J Sharma ruled that prosecution has failed to put forth any documentary and substantive evidence to suggest or establish the alleged conspiracy.

“The way in which evidence was brought before me I could not help,” Justice Sharma said while passing the order.

Ninety-two witnesses, including three key ones, turned hostile during the trial.

The CBI had said, Shaikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter on November 26, 2005 near Ahmedabad, while his wife Kausar Bi was killed three days later.

A year later, on December 27, Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsi Prajapati was also shot dead by the Gujarat and Rajasthan police in an alleged fake encounter near Chapri on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.

Of the 22 accused, 21 are junior-level police officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan and the other was the owner of a farmhouse in Gujarat.

BJP President Amit Shah, then Minister of State for Home in Gujarat, was also named in the case but he was discharged. The court said his name was included in the inquiry for political reasons.

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