CBI suppressed ‘crucial’ statements of a key witness, Special Court told

In what can spell trouble for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an advocate has accused the central agency of suppressing statements of a key witness, in the staged encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. The advocate has accordingly moved an application before a special court seeking directions to the central agency to furnish the statements of a former under-trial, whose testimony can be crucial in the case.

The application was moved by advocate Abdul Wahab Khan seeking statements of Mahendra Singh Jhala, who was booked in a firing case in 2004 and had met Tulsiram Prajapati just before his encounter in November 2006.

This comes after the CBI ‘for the reasons best known to itself’ did not submit Jhala’s statements to the court, who deposed before special Judge SJ Sharma on Tuesday. The statements of Jhala, which were recorded by the Magistrate, are now sought by Khan, through his application as the same were not placed before the special court. According to the statements, Jhala has specifically accused discharged IPS officer Abhay Chudasama of carrying out an extortion racket with the help of Sohrabuddin. He has stated that Sohrabuddin was an informer of Chudasama.

Jhala has further stated that discharged IPS officer DG Vanzara had demanded Rs 15 lakh from him, just a month after the encounter of Sohrabuddin. He further stated that Vanzara had threatened him of framing in a false case and also of killing him just the way he got Sohrabuddin murdered in an encounter.

Meanwhile, in his deposition, Jhala said, “When I had been to Ahmedabad court, Tulsiram was produced before the same court. I met him in the corridors and could see he was scared.”

“Tulsiram specifically told me that the police informed him of their plan to kill him in an encounter. He further told me that the police wanted to kill him because he had all information pertaining to the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin,” Jhala told the special court.

Meanwhile, an ATS officer — Mohabbat Chauhan, who had prepared panchnama of the seized belongings of Sohrabuddin turned hostile before the court.