Living in constant fear: Sohrabuddin case witness

One of the Patel brothers, who are key witnesses in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, on Monday said they were living in constant fear after giving a statement before the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"You all must have been hearing in the media about our statements before the CBI which are facts. If I were to describe our experience in short you will be shocked," said Raman Patel, of Popular Builders, during a function organised to felicitate him and his brother Dashrat for showing courage in giving a statement to the CBI against extortionist policemen.

According to the CBI chargesheet in the fake encounter case, the Gujarat police had stage-managed a shoot out at office of Popular Builders, using close aides of Sohrabuddin, with the purpose of lodging a FIR against him in Gujarat in December 2004.

"We were asked to pay money to the police. We were framed in false cases. The police treated us like hardcore criminals and terrorists. They even tortured us mentally and physically," said Patel, who along with brother Dashrat is an accused in the firing case in their own office.

"We did not know that we will have to pay a big price for giving out statement to the CBI as now we are constantly living under security cover as we fear for our lives," Patel said.

According to the CBI, the brothers held four meetings with middlemen sent by former minister Amit Shah, who has been arrested by the CBI. These meetings were video graphed by them in a discreet manner. These audio-visual recording has been seized by the CBI and has been shown as a major evidence against Shah and other accused.