Sohrabuddin case: Witnesses turning hostile as CBI doctored evidence, says Jethmalani

July 05, 2018 18:57

Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani today accused the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Bombay high court of fabricating evidence in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, saying that is why a large number of prosecution witnesses have turned hostile in the case.

A total of 77 witnesses have turned hostile so far in the case.

Jethmalani is the counsel for IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian, who was discharged by a trial court in the case.

He told a single-judge bench of Justice A M Badar that it was "no surprise" that the agency's star witnesses Nathuba Jadeja and Gurdayal Singh, drivers with the Gujarat ATS at the time of the alleged encounter, had turned hostile.

"Both Jadeja and Singh were coerced by the Central Bureau of Investigation into giving statements that suited the prosecution's case," Jethmalani alleged.

It is no surprise that they turned hostile because even if they had stood their ground their depositions wouldn't have passed the test of law, he said.

"That is because the CBI was given a mandate when it took over the probe in 2010, and it manufactured the content and fabricated evidence to suit its case," Jethmalani charged.

He pointed out that as per the evidence on record, between 2005 (when the alleged encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi took place) and 2010 (when the CBI took over the probe), Jadeja's statement was recorded seven times.

In his first two statements before the Gujarat Crime Investigation Department in February 2006, Jadeja had said he was a witness to the incident and that the encounters were genuine.

Jadeja had stated that Sohrabuddin Shaikh, a Gujarat-based gangster was apprehended by the officials and as he was trying to flee the spot, one of the junior officials, an accused in the alleged fake encounter case, case had to fire some shots at him and he was killed, Jethmalani said.

But, Jadeja told the Gujarat CID in April 2007 that the above statement was incorrect and the said encounter was a fake one. He repeated this story before the CBI in May 2010, the senior lawyer said. -- PTI

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