Sohrab case: Final arguments begin

Mumbai: The trial in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh and 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati has reached the last lap with commencement of final arguments of lawyers in the case on Monday.

The court on Friday completed recording statements of accused under section 313 of Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and posted the matter for hearing final arguments from the lawyers on Monday. Under section 313, each accused gets an opportunity to personally explain any circumstances appearing against him in the evidence.

Special public prosecutor B.P. Raju is expected to commence arguments to point out important witnesses and other evidence brought on record to prove case against the accused.

The CBI has examined 210 witnesses in the case and 92 of them have turned hostile. Of the 38 people charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 16, including Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah (who was minister of state for home in Gujarat then) and all senior police officials have been discharged. Currently, 22 accused are facing trial.

The prosecution case is that a police team first abducted Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi.

Later, they killed Sheikh in fake encounter and also murdered his wife. Sheikh’s aide Tulsiram Prajapati was an eyewitness to the abduction and hence he was also killed in a fake encounter in December 2006 to eliminate the evidence of Sheikh’s encounter.