CBI to probe Tulsiram Prajapati ?fake encounter? case

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the alleged fake encounter case of Tulsiram Prajapati, an eyewitness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

An apex court bench, comprising justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, rejected the Gujarat government?s contention that a CBI probe was not needed as the state police have already filed a charge-sheet in the case.

The court also turned down the CBI?s plea for monitoring the investigations and asked it to file the final report before the trial court in six months.

The court also criticized the state police?s tardy probe, taking close to four years to file the charge-sheet.

Mother of Prajapati, Narmada Bai, had approached the Supreme Court, seeking a CBI probe into her son?s killing.

Prajapati was a key witness in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in which former minister Amit Shah is involved.

Prajapati was allegedly kidnapped by police and ATS and killed in cold blood. The involvement of police of neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan is also suspected in the stated encounter.

Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were killed in an alleged staged encounter near Ahmedabad in November 2005, while Prajapati was killed in an alleged police encounter in 2006 end.