Yet another turns hostile in Sohrabuddin case

Mumbai: Yet another prosecution witness has turned hostile in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, taking the number of such witnesses to 49.

The CBI produced Manoj Panara, a panch witness before special CBI judge S.J. Sharma on Thursday. According to the prosecution, Mr Panara was present when the CBI obtained the specimen signature of an accused, Balkrishna Choubey.

However, in the court, Mr Panara said that he had signed some papers but did not know what those papers were about. Mr Panara also said that he was not introduced to any official there. Later, special public prosecutor B.P. Raju declared him hostile.

The CBI has examined 70 witnesses in the case. The Mumbai court last October framed charges against 22 persons, including police officers, for murder, abduction and destruction of evidence in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin near Gandhinagar on November 26, 2005. Sohrabuddin, suspected to have terror links, and his wife Kausar Bi, were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat police's Anti-Terrorism Squad while on their way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra in November 2005.

According to the prosecution, Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter.