CBI: Prajapati case witness untraceable

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday informed the court that advocate Salim Khan — a key witness in the case of the alleged fake encounter in 2006 of Tulsiram Prajapati, an aide of Sohrabuddin Sheikh who was killed in an alleged fake encounter a year earlier — is untraceable.

The prosecution informed the court that it has been unable to reach him or contact him via phone as his device is switched off.

So far, 47 witnesses have turned hostile in the case.

Special public prosecutor B.P. Raju on Tuesday informed judge S.J. Sharma that Mr Khan was supposed to appear before the court on Tuesday but on trying to contact him, his phone was found switched off and hence he could not be contacted.

The prosecution wanted to examine Mr Khan because he was Prajapati’s defence lawyer in a murder case in Rajasthan and, according to the CBI, while Prajapati was in judicial custody in that case, he had filed few applications through Mr Khan in which he had expressed apprehensions regarding a threat to his life. To prove this, the CBI wants to examine Mr Khan.

The prosecution on Tuesday examined two witnesses Komal Jha and his son Chandra. Komal Jha was the owner of the house where Prajapati was staying on rent in November 2005. The witnesses told the court that Prajapati was staying on rent under the name ‘Samir Prajapati’ and was selling vegetables. At the end of November 2005 the Udaipur police had taken him into custody and had told them that he was an absconding accused in a murder case.

The father-son duo also told the court that Prajapati had taken their house on rent, and around 10 to 15 days prior to his arrest he was constantly present in the same house.

The prosecution’s case is that the accused Gujarat ATS had abducted Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and Prajapati from a luxury bus from Hyderabad on November 23, 2005. According to the prosecution, Prajapati was an eyewitness to this abduction and killing and hence he was also killed in an encounter, however as per the testimony of two witnesses examined on Tuesday, Prajapati was present in the rented house at around same date when the police had taken three persons including Prajapati into custody from the bus.