Prajapti feared for life, claims defence lawyer

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the CBI to ensure that it brings all documents that are part of its chargesheet in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case before the court on Thursday.  The court asked the agency to bring the papers as those are needed for lawyers to refer to during arguments challenging the discharge of policemen from the case.

During Wednesday's hearing, Sohrabuddin's brother Rubabuddin's lawyer read out statements of few of the witnesses before Justice Revati Mohite-Dere to show that Sohrabuddin's aide, Tulsiram Prajapati feared for his life and to avoid being killed in a fake encounter, he had written to the National Human Rights Commission and the district court where he was facing trial. The lawyer claimed that Prajapati had even requested the court to direct the police to chain his legs during transportation from jail to the court and back, so that police could not claim he was trying to flee. But that request was also turned down.

According to the lawyer, Prajapati had even called his nephew Kundan Prajapati by sending him messages so that he could accompany him when the police took him anywhere. But the police illegally detained Kundan and his friend and booked them under false case of NDPS and sent them to jail. Rubabuddin's lawyer also claimed that policemen, at the instance of senior police officer Dinesh M. N. flouted rules to ensure Prajapati is brought out of the jail and then killed.