Mumbai: A special CBI court has rejected the discharge application of three police constables from Gujarat in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The constables had contended that they were a part of the encounter while being on official duty and it wasn’t a staged encounter. The court last month discharged one of the prime accused DIG D.G. Vanzara from the case before rejecting the application of these accused.
Special judge S.J. Sharma rejected the discharge applications of Santaram Sharma, Naransinh Dhabi and Ajay Parmar. These accused have been charged for abducting deceased Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi.
According to the accused, whatever they did was done in the capacity of being a public servant discharging their official duties as instructed by their seniors and that they were not part of any alleged conspiracy. They said that a prior sanction was essential to prosecute them but such a sanction was not taken.
However, the judge observed that there was some on-record material, which established the involvement of these accused in the alleged conspiracy of abduction and killing of Sohrabuddin. The judge also said that if a public servant enters a criminal conspiracy or indulges in criminal misconduct, such misdemeanour on his part is not to be treated as an act in discharge of his official duties. Therefore, the sanction to prosecute them is not required.
Sohrabuddin was kidnapped and killed by a team of Gujarat and Rajasthan police in November 2005 and later, his wife Kausar Bi and his associate Tulisram Prajapati were also killed.
