The Bombay High Court has upheld the acquittal of all 22 accused, including 21 police personnel, in the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kauser Bi, and associate Tulsiram Prajapati. The appeals filed by Sohrabuddin’s brothers challenging the 2018 judgment of a special CBI court were dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court. The appellants contended that the trial was flawed, citing errors in evidence appreciation and assumptions by the special court.
The appellants argued that the prosecution did not summon magistrates before whom certain witnesses had earlier recorded statements, and witnesses claimed inaccuracies in their testimonies. Despite these arguments, the Bombay High Court declined to interfere with the special court’s acquittal. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed the High Court that it had accepted the 2018 acquittal verdict and did not plan to challenge it further.
The case involves the alleged abduction of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, Kauser Bi, and Prajapati in 2005, leading to their deaths in staged encounters. The trial, which began in Gujarat and later shifted to Mumbai, saw the acquittal of all accused by the special CBI court in 2018. The court held that the prosecution failed to prove conspiracy and murder charges beyond a reasonable doubt, emphasizing the lack of concrete evidence linking the accused to the alleged crimes.
