Court adjourns hearing in Amit Shah's discharge application

The special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in the discharge application of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah, in connection with the alleged fake encounter cases of Sohrabbuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati, till July 14.

The new judge B H Loya, before whom the case came up for hearing on Wednesday, adjourned the case. Meanwhile, Shah is likely to appear before the court on July 4 for the regular hearing.

It can be noted that the previous judge J T Utpat was transferred to Pune on June 25. The court had on May 9, issued summons to Shah and other accused in the case, which was transferred from Gujarat. The CBI had chargesheeted Shah and 18 others, including several police officers in the case, last September.

According to CBI, gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was claimed to have links to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and his wife Kauser Bi, were abducted by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, when they were on way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra and were killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005.

Tulsiram Prajapati, an eye-witness to the encounter, was killed by police at Chapri village in Banaskantha district of Gujarat in December 2006.

Shah, who was then Minister of State for Home, was allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind both the incidents.