Investigating officer deposes

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, examined CBI Deputy Superintendent Nirmal Singh Raju on Monday. He had recorded the statements of the jail inmate of Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsiram Prajapati, and he deposed, he had recorded the statements of the witnesses as had been narrated to him.

During the investigation, seven of the many of the witnesses whom Raju had interrogated and whose statements he had recorded, have turned hostile, including Prajapati's fellow inmates.

Singh, in his cross-examination, clarified to the defence advocates that the chief investigating officer does not record the statements of the assistant investigating officer.

Although the defence advocates held that he had recorded the statements of the witnesses at the say-so of his Chief Investigating Officer Amitabh Thakur, Raju insisted he had recorded only that which was narrated to him by the witnesses and the statements of those witnesses he did not record had been recorded by his teammates.

On October 5, the special CBI court will examine Vasant Laljibhai Solanki, the investigating officer who had carried out the preliminary inquiry in this case and had concluded the encounter killings of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser Bi and his associate Tulsiram were ‘fake’.