Fresh witness list added to Sohrabuddin case

Mumbai: The prosecution on Thursday submitted a fresh list of 67 witnesses in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh-Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case. Meanwhile, three more witnesses turned hostile, taking the number of hostile witnesses to 80. So far, the prosecution has examined 132 witnesses in the case.

Of the three witnesses who turned hostile on Thursday, Sharafat Ali, told special judge S.J. Sharma that the police had arrested him in a case registered under the Arms Act and that he was kept in a prison in Udaipur where he got acquainted with other prisoners including Prajapati, Rafique, Sylvester and Azam Khan.

According to  Ali’s earlier statement given to the CBI, Prajapati had disclosed to Ali that there was a threat to his life and had given Ali a letter meant for his brother in Ujjain, and asked the latter to approach court for Prajapati’s safety.

On Thursday however, Ali told the court that he was illiterate and had signed the CBI statement without knowing what was written in it. He told the court that neither had Prajapati given any letter to him nor had Prajapati disclosed about any threat to his life. Following this, the public prosecutor requested the court to declare Ali as a hostile witness.