Tying Up Loose Ends: The Death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh

After a painfully long process, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court has acquitted the remaining 22 accused persons in the Sohrabuddin encounter case yesterday, December 21. Special CBI Judge SJ Sharma expressed his disappointment with the prosecution’s case in the light of the fact that out of 210 witnesses, 92 had turned hostile. Judge Sharma apologised to the families of the deceased stating that due to the evidence presented by the prosecution, the case against the accused could not be substantiated.

The 22 persons acquitted are all junior police officers. The seniors involved were all acquitted or discharged between 2014 and 2017. Some of the big names involved in the case are: the former Home Minister of Gujarat and now Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, Amit Shah; former Rajasthan Home Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria; former DIG (Deputy Inspector General) of the ATS (Anti-Terror Squad) in Ahmedabad, D G Vanzara; the former SP (Superintendent of Police) of Udaipur, Dinesh MN and former SP of the ATS in Ahmedabad, Rajkumar Pandian.

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Rubabuddin Sheikh, the brother of Sohrabuddin, had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India a few days after the ‘encounter’. His letter expressed his apprehensions over the death of his brother as well as the mystery of his sister-in-law’s whereabouts. The Supreme Court had subsequently ordered an investigation into the encounter led by the then Inspector General of Police in Gujarat, Geeta Johri. A part of this investigation was also conducted by Rajnish Rai who was then the DIG of the Gujarat CID’s crime branch. In 2006, Rubabuddin Sheikh had petitioned the Supreme Court for a CBI probe into his brother’s death.

Judge Loya Controversy

Despite the Supreme Court passing an Order that the Sohrabuddin case should be heard from the beginning to the end by the same judge, the case was heard by several judges. The second judge to hear the case was Judge BH Loya who died of a heart attack in Nagpur on December 1, 2014. In 2017, the Caravan magazine published a series of reports that Judge Loya did not die of natural causes and cited statements from his family as well as physicians. This gained prominence as on December 30, and Amit Shah was discharged by the next judge to handle the case.

The uproar over the allegations raised by the Caravan resulted in the matter going to the Supreme Court for a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into Judge Loya’s death. The Supreme Court on April 19 this year dismissed all the petitions after a series of fiery hearings. The SC’s position was that the petitions were politically motivated and aimed at scandalising the judiciary since the petitioners had questioned the statements of the other judges who were with Judge Loya at the time of his death.

Also Read | Judge Loya death Judgement Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Azam Khan’s Statements

Azam Khan, an Udaipur-based gangster and a person with whom Sohrabuddin Sheikh fraternised with, made some startling statements in his testimony to the CBI court regarding the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya. Khan’s testimony drew a link between Pandya’s murder, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and DG Vanzara. Khan’s wife subsequently filed a petition in the Bombay High Court alleging that Khan’s testimony was not complete. She also alleged that Khan had been beaten while in custody to get him to testify ‘correctly’. Her petition also mentioned one instance when Khan was taken to appear in court so that he could give a favourable testimony to enable Amit Shah’s bail. Khan’s wife also mentioned that she and his family had been threatened and that she had been physically assaulted in order to get Khan to testify favourably.

Bureaucratic Punishment

On December 17 this year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs suspended Rajnish Rai, the officer who had arrested DG Vanzara and named Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin case. This is despite Rai seeking a voluntary retirement from service and tendering his resignation well before his suspension order. The suspension order reportedly has been for leaving his post. However, Rai maintains that he had retired from service on November 30 this year.

Also Read | Sohrabuddin Case: Key Witness Azam Khan Alleges Torture, Prays for Fresh Testimony

Rajnish Rai was a 1992 batch Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer. He had recently made the news regarding another alleged fake encounter during his posting in Assam. He had blown the whistle on an encounter in 2017 involving the Assam Rifles, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the Army which resulted in the death of two men accused of being members of the National Democratic Front for Bodoland (Songbijit) [NDFB(S)].

Following a leak of his discreet inquiry to the press, he was transferred to the Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism School of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. In August 2018, he had sought voluntary retirement. His application was rejected and he was instructed to report to his post. Rai has challenged the rejection before a Central Administrative Tribunal in Ahmedabad.

The Future of the Case

It is yet to be seen if the CBI will file an appeal in the Bombay High Court. On the other hand, the fate of Azam Khan’s petition in the same High Court must also be considered. At present, the only loose end remaining is Azam Khan, he may try to ‘escape custody’ like Tulsiram Prajapati – Sohrabuddin’s aide who was also killed in a subsequent encounter – and meet the same fate. Rajnish Rai’s case, on the other hand, may be also be a warning to those within state institutions who wish to rock the boat.