File Picture
All 22 accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case have been acquitted by the Special CBI Court in Mumbai due to lack of evidence. The court says there no basis on the conspiracy theory and the evidence is not conclusive. The court said the prosecution has not been able to prove its case at all.
The Special CBI judge observed in his order that all the witnesses and proofs are not satisfactory to prove conspiracy and murder and observed that circumstantial evidence is not substantial.
The court said that the allegation that Tulsiram Prajapati was murdered through a conspiracy is not true.
The court observed that government machinery and prosecution put in a lot of effort, 210 witnesses were brought but satisfactory evidence didn’t come and witnesses turned hostile. No fault of prosecutor if witnesses don’t speak, the court said.
A court in Mumbai was hearing whether alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati were killed in fake encounters in 2005.
Twenty-two people, mostly police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan, are accused in the cases, which triggered a political storm and continued to make headlines years later.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which probed the case, said the murders were a result of conspiracy for political and financial gains.
Of the 38 people charged, 16 people – including BJP chief Amit Shah, former top cop DG Vanzara and other police officers — were discharged. Ninety-two prosecution witnesses had turned hostile.
