Bombay High Court Upholds Acquittal Of 22 Accused In Sohrabuddin Shaikh Fake Encounter Case

Mumbai: The Bombay High court on Thursday upheld the order of special CBI court acquitting 22 accused in the 2005 alleged fake encounter case of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati observing that the foundation of the prosecution story is not established.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad on Thursday dismissed the appeal filed by Sohrabuddin’s brothers, Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin Shaikh challenging the special court’s verdict of 2018 acquitting all the accused.

Sohrabuddin’s brother had in April 2019 approached the HC against the special court’s judgment, acquitting all the accused. The appeal filed by Sohrabuddin’s brothers claimed that the trial was flawed. It cited instances where witnesses later claimed that their testimonies were not accurately recorded by the trial court. The appeal sought for the judgment to be quashed and for a retrial in the case.

The special court, in December 2018, acquitted all the 22 accused, citing insufficient evidence and prosecution’s failure to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Dismissing the appeal filed by Rubabuddin, the high court said, "The trial Court applied the correct and settled legal principles in law. Its conclusions are not contrary to the evidence and documents on record."

"The case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence and there are several broken links in the chain of circumstances," the high court said adding that, "The prosecution failed to establish the abduction of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati, their illegal detention at Disha Farmhouse and Arham Farmhouse and the alleged fake encounter. There is no evidence to connect the weapon which is said to be used in the crime with the bullet recovered from the thigh of Sohrabuddin Shaikh," the court order further said.

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Sohrabuddin, alleged to be a gangster, was killed in November 2006 in an encounter near Ahmedabad by the Gujarat police. His wife Kausar Bi was also allegedly killed. Later in December 2006, Prajapati, who was considered as a key eyewitness, was killed in another alleged encounter.

The Supreme Court then handed over the probe to the CBI and transferred the trial in the case to a special CBI court in Mumbai.

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