Court frames charges in Sohrabuddin Sheikh case

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Tuesday framed charges against 16 accused in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case, paving the way for the trial to begin.

A CBI source confirmed the news on the condition of anonymity, and said that the court on Tuesday framed charges against 16 accused. According to the officer, the charges against rest of the accused were not framed as their various applications were pending in the courts.

Initially, 38 persons were named as accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case but till now the trial court has discharged around 13 accused from the case. Those discharged include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, former DIG D.G. Vanzara, Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria, Rajasthan-based businessman Vimal Patni, former Gujarat chief P.C. Pande, additional director general of police Geeta Johri, Gujarat police officer Abhay Chudasama, Gujarat police official NK Amin,  Yashpal Chudasama and  Ajay Patel (both senior office-bearers at the Ahmedabad District

Co-Operative Bank), Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan and  Andhra Pradesh cadre IPS officer N. Balasubramanyam.

Those who would be facing trial if not discharged from a higher court, includes policemen Santaram Sharma, Naransinh Dhabi, Ajay Parmar, Balkrishan Chaubey and Abdul Rehman Khan. The court has framed charges against the accused for criminal conspiracy, murder, abduction, destruction of evidence and other relevant sections of Arms Act.

The court has charged accused for abduction of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausar Bi and friend Tulsiram Prajapati.