Special CBI court judge A.Y. Dave on Monday postponed the committal of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case after the move was opposed by the investigating agency.
The CBI stated that its application for transferring the trial of the case outside Gujarat was pending before the Supreme Court.
Ejaz Khan, counsel for CBI, told the court that it should not commit the case when the application for transferring the case was pending.
He argued that two more co-accused in the case — Ajay Patel and Yashpal Chudasma, both top officials of the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank — were still absconding. In addition, the principal accused, the former Minister Amit Shah, was barred by the Supreme Court from entering Gujarat pending a final disposal of his bail application.
Mr. Shah was to have appeared before the CBI court on Monday but could not do so because of the Supreme Court order. Mr. Khan contended that the CBI was busy probing the Tulsiram Prajapati case, which was also considered to be closely linked to the Sohrabuddin case. It required time before it could complete the investigation in the Sohrabuddin case to tie up the loose ends, if any. Mr. Dave adjourned the hearing till June 21.
Sohrabuddin was killed in a staged shootout by Crime Branch police officers on November 26, 2005, while his wife, Kausarbi, was eliminated a few days later.
Tulsiram Prajapati, Sohrabuddin's one-time close associate, was killed about a year later in another alleged fake encounter.
