Sohrabuddin case: CBI told to clear stand on 3 review pleas

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the CBI to clear its stand on the review petitions filed by Rubabuddin Shaikh against the discharge of three serving and retired IPS officers in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case of Gujarat.

Justice A M Badar asked the CBI to clarify whether or not these officers, Rajkumar Pandian, Dinesh M N and D G Vanzara, should have faced trial in light of the evidence presented against them by the probe agency in its charge sheet in the 13-yearold case.

Rubabuddin Shaikh is the brother of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, a gangster with alleged terror links, who along with his wife Kausar Bi, was killed in a suspected fake encounter by the Gujarat Police in November 2005.

Their aide Tulsiram Prajapati was killed in another alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police in December 2006. All three cases have been clubbed.

Justice Badar is looking into five review pleas, three filed by Rubabuddin Shaikh and two by the CBI, challenging the discharge granted to some Gujarat and Rajasthan police officers by the trial court. Rubabuddin has challenged the discharge of Pandian and Dinesh (from the Rajasthan Police and still serving) and Vanzara, a Gujarat ATS officer who has retired.

The CBI has challenged the discharge of Gujarat IPS officer N K Amin (now retired) and Rajasthan Police constable Dalpat Singh Rathod.

Justice Badar gave the directions to the CBI on Monday before he began hearing the arguments against Dinesh's discharge. Before Rubabuddin's lawyer could begin the arguments, Justice Badar asked whether the CBI had something to say in the case of Pandian since both Tiwari and Pandian's counsel Mahesh Jethmalani had concluded their respective arguments in his case last week. The CBI, however, replied in the negative, saying it was concerned with just two review pleas that it had filed before the court.