CBI special court will give verdict in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case on December 21
A special CBI court in Mumbai will give its verdict in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case on December 21. Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a petty criminal, was killed near Gujarat's Gandhinagar in November 2005 by Gujarat police officers who called him a terrorist. His wife Kausar Bi was also killed. Tulsiram Prajapati, who was accompanying the couple and became a witness to the crime, was killed a year later.
Investigators said the killings were meant to silence the men, who were instrumental in an extortion racket that the police of three states -- Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh -- were running at the behest of their political bosses.
BJP national president Amit Shah was discharged in the case in 2014. The CBI had said its decision not to challenge the discharge granted to Mr Shah was a "conscious" and "reasonable" move.
A trial court has also discharged former Gujarat anti-terrorism squad chief DG Vanzara and four others, all of them police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan, in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case.
The names of 22 police officers are still linked to the case, for which the verdict will be given later this month.