Mumbai: The Bombay HC on Thursday dismissed the appeal challenging acquittals of all the 22 accused in the 2005 alleged fake encounter case of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati.
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. The detailed order however would be available subsequently.
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.
Interestingly, the prosecuting agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not filed an appeal against the acquittal. During the hearing in the appeal on October 8, 2025, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the CBI, had informed the HC that the agency has accepted the verdict by the special CBI court, Mumbai, acquitting all the 22 accused, and will not be challenging the same.
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. It observed that the prosecution had failed to establish a cogent case to suggest there had been any conspiracy to kill Sohrabuddin and the others, and that the present accused persons had any role in it. The court also the CBI had failed to prove there existed any nexus between these officers and the local politicians, some of whom were also accused in the case.
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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