CBI could not establish chain of events: Judge

The chain of events between 2005-06 leading to separate encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati could not be established by the CBI, a special court in Mumbai ruled.

The chain of events between 2005-06 leading to separate encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati and the disappearance-murder of Kausar Bi could not be established by the CBI, a special court in Mumbai ruled.

"Before I conclude, I must place on record the fact that I am not unaware of the degree of agony and frustration that may be caused to the society in general and the families of the deceased in particular by the fact a serious nature of crime like this goes unpunished, but then the law doesn't permit the court to punish the accused on the basis of moral conviction or suspicion alone," Additional Sessions Judge SJ Sharma, who presides over a special CBI court noted in the nearly 350-page judgement.

"It is no doubt a matter of regret that there is a reported killing of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram and it is going unpunished, so also Kausar Bi, the wife of Sohrabuddin who disappeared, and the script of the CBI during investigation that she was killed and set ablaze is laking evidence and is also going unpunished," it states.

In the judgement, Special Judge Sharma had noted that the chain could not be established and the prosecution could not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

According to the judgement, it could not be established as to who has killed Sohrabuddin Shaikh, while the encounter of Tulsiram Prajapati was genuine.

The CBI Judge had pointed out several loopholes in the investigations of the apex probe agency of the country.

The judgement dwelled on several facts like the travel of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi from Indore to Hyderabad by a Maruti car - but expressed surprise why the couple was returning by a luxury bus. Besides, another crucial thing that could not be established concretely whether the third person along with the couple was Tulsiram Prajapati.

The evidence vis-a-vis Tulsiram Prajapati being on the spot when the couple were taken away, was "hearsay" coming from jail inmates - Azam Khan, Sylvester. Another fact, that the court had pointed out that Sohrabuddin's wife was pregnant is contrary to the evidence that Kausar Bi was headed to Sangli with her husband for the treatment of problems related to the fallopian tube.

On another thing that the court has expressed surprise is the two persons booking tickets for the same bus - two for Sobrabuddin and Kausar Bi and another for Tulsiram and the fact that who are these Salman and Shaikh who booked the tickets.

In relation to the encounter of Sohrabuddin, it could not be proved that Police Inspector NH Dhabi from the Gujarat-ATS or Police Inspector Abdul Rehman and Sub-Inspector Himanshu Singh Rajawat and Sub-Inspector Shyam Singh - all three from Rajasthan police, fired at the gangster. The bullet recovered from the body of the deceased could be matched with a weapon seized from ATS office, but who used it, there are no records.

Besides, the judgement also dwelled on the fact that the third person in luxury bus was Tulsiram, another evidence by a witness shows that he was in Bhilwara in Rajasthan at that point of time.