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  Metros   Mumbai  11 May 2018  Brother of Sohrabuddin wants to testify as witness

Brother of Sohrabuddin wants to testify as witness

THE ASIAN AGE. | SHAHAB ANSARI
Published : May 11, 2018, 1:24 am IST
Updated : May 11, 2018, 1:24 am IST

Shahnawazuddin’s lawyer told the court that there is a threat to his life and his statement should be recorded at the earliest.

Sohrabuddin Sheikh
 Sohrabuddin Sheikh

Mumbai: Almost six years after the CBI filed its chargesheet in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, his elder brother Shahnawazuddin Sheikh, on Thursday moved an application before a special CBI court, requesting it to call him as a witness as the agency had failed to do so. The court has asked the CBI to file a reply to this application in the first week of June.

Shahnawazuddin’s lawyer told the court that there is a threat to his life and his statement should be recorded at the earliest.

The application moved before Judge S. J. Sharma read, “Applicant (Shahnawazuddin) has now been forced to approach this court as he has recently learned that the prosecuting agency, the CBI, has failed to include the applicant as witness in this case and has also failed to produce duly reference materials seized from the applicant. These materials are four blank pages signed by the other victim in this case, Tulsiram Prajapati, which were seized by the CBI dated 18.02.2010.”

According to the application, Sheikh moved the court after “hearing distressing news of many of the accused getting discharged from the case without the same being challenged by the CBI.” The application also said that Sheikh is shocked with the vast number of witnesses turning hostile. “It was in these circumstances that the applicant obtained a copy of the chargsheet and the accompanying list of witnesses where he came to know that he was not made a witness,” the application read further.

Talking about the importance of the blank pages, Sheikh in his application has said, “The circumstances in which these four blank sheets signed by Tulsiram Prajapati came into the applicant’s possession are relevant to the just determination of the case under trial. The applicant met the deceased Tulsiram around September-October 2006 in Ujjain, MP, where Prajapati was to be produced before the district court. The blank sheets signed by Tulsiram were given to applicant and his brother Rubabuddin, so that they could write to the Supreme Court and save his life.

Tags: sohrabuddin sheikh, tulsiram prajapati