Prime witness sticks to version

One of the prime witnesses in the staged encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh on Wednesday appeared before a special court, with full police protection. The witness, an advocate from Udaipur in Rajasthan stuck to his original statements, which incriminate the accused police officials, including the discharged IPS officials, in the case. Now, the prosecution can take a sigh of relief,

especially since at least 50 witnesses have turned hostile.

The advocate – Salim Khan -- deposed before special Judge Sunil Sharma. Khan represented Sohrabuddin’s close aide Tulsiram Prajapati, who was also killed in a fake encounter in 2006.

Khan deposed for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is prosecuting 22 police officials for the murders of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausar Bi and close aide Prajapati. During his examination, Khan reiterated that Prajapati had sought protection from the police during his stay in the Udaipur jail. “Prajapati had handed over two applications to me seeking protection. He had disclosed to me that the police was hatching a conspiracy to kill him in a fake encounter case, the way he was actually killed.”

“He had also apprised me of the inhumane treatment meted out to him in the jail. I had moved an application in a District Magistrate Court on behalf of Prajapati. The court had even directed the police officials to ensure that no inhumane treatment was meted out to Prajapati, however, he was killed in the encounter,” Khan told the court.

Khan’s deposition not only helped the prosecution to corroborate its version of Prajapati's death but also substantiated the documentary evidence it had adduced to bring home the guilt of police officials.

Meanwhile, another prosecution witness retracted from its original version of the case taking the total number of hostile witness to 50. The witness was a lady, who was a co-passenger in the bus from which the accused police officials had picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife before they could reach Sangli. The lady – a native of Sangli, was travelling on the bus along with her husband and in-laws, who have already turned hostile in the case.

The lady in her deposition told the court that she was ‘sleeping’ during the entire journey and did not witness any incident wherein the cops entered the bus and took away any passengers.

The court will continue examining the witnesses tomorrow.