Sohrabuddin case verdict on December 21

Mumbai: Two days after lawyers concluded their final arguments, the special CBI court on Friday fixed December 21 as the date when it would pronounce judgment in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh and 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases.

The trial begun in November 2017 and the prosecution examined 210 witnesses. Of them, 92 turned hostile. After the examination of witnesses, special public prosecutor B. P. Raju had concluded his final arguments against all the 22 accused in two hours, following which the defence begun its final arguments and concluded on Wednesday.

After arguments were over, advocate Raju had, before special judge S. J. Sharma, blamed the delay in the probe and the 12-year-long gap between the incident and the deposition of witnesses for impacting the evidence against the accused. He had said that many witnesses had turned hostile in the case.

Between 2014 and 2018, 16 of the accused, including BJP chief Amit Shah, Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria, Rajasthan-based businessman Vimal Patni, former Gujarat police chief P. C. Pande, Additional DGP Geeta Johri, Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan and Andhra Pradesh cadre IPS official N. Balasubramanyam, Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh M. N. and Gujarat cop D. G. Vanzara were discharged by the court.

The 22 accused, including police inspectors, assistant inspectors, sub-inspectors and constables and one private person, faced the trial.