Sohrabuddin Shaikh Encounter Case: All 22 Accused Acquitted

Mumbai: All the 22 accused in the 2005 sensational Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case were acquitted on Friday by a special CBI court, declaring that the prosecution failed to establish the conspiracy.

Delivering his order, special CBI Judge S J Sharma said no documentary and substantive evidence were put forward by the prosecution to establish the alleged conspiracy.

Sheikh, an alleged gangster, and his wife Kauser Bi were killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2005 by the Gujarat police. According to the accused, Shaikh was a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative and was on his way to Gujarat to “assassinate a big political leader”. He and his wife were travelling to Maharashtra on November 23, 2005, when they were abducted and brought to Gujarat. Shaikh was killed a day later near Ahmedabad and his wife three days later near Gujarat-Rajasthan border. His aide Prajapati, was killed in a separate encounter, in the following year in a joint operation by Gujarat and Rajasthan police.

The CBI took over the case in December 2010. The trial in the case started in December last year and 16 accused, including BJP president Amit Shah, was discharged.

In all, 210 witnessed were brought in by the prosecution, 92 of whom turned hostile.

The accused, including serving and retired police officials from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy among other charges.

The case had attracted much attention nation-wide as Amit Shah, the Minister of State for Home in Gujarat at that time, was also made an accused.