New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on May 15 an additional affidavit filed by Rubabuddin Sheikh, enclosing fresh materials, for a CBI probe into the fake encounter death of his brother Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

Counsel for the petitioner made a mention before a Bench consisting of Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan about the filing of the affidavit and the Bench said it would hear the matter on May 15. On May 3, while directing the Gujarat Government to file a status report on the investigation, the Bench had already posted the case for May 15.

The petitioner said that the court had stated that there was a prima facie case for admitting the petition. The facts and circumstances would demonstrate that the State of Gujarat had perpetrated the fake encounter at the instance of its police officers. It was doubtful whether an enquiry by the very same police mechanism, which was involved in the elimination of his brother and sister-in-law, would be able to unearth the truth and bring the guilty to justice.

He said the sequence of events presented a sordid and nerve chilling story where murder, rape and extortion was perpetrated by a large number of high-ranking police officers who would go to the extent of eliminating citizens for financial gain. The enormity of the conspiracy at the behest of such high-ranking police officers was unparalleled and could not be over emphasised.

DGP blamed

He blamed Director-General of Police P.C. Pande for the "delay" in conducting the investigation. Though the apex court Registry issued notice on January 21, 2006, no action was taken till June 7. Thereafter, despite submitting a preliminary report the DGP delayed even registering a case for nine months.

The petitioner alleged that the delay was orchestrated to ensure that all evidence in the fake encounter case was destroyed.

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