SC Agrees to Examine Plea against Acquittal of 22 Accused in Sohrabuddin Shaikh Encounter Case
According to the prosecution case, Sohrabuddin, his wife and Prajapati were travelling by bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra when they were allegedly taken into custody by a police team on the night of November 22-23, 2005
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2026-09-28 07:28 GMT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to uphold the acquittal of all 22 accused in the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati. The court expressed concern that 92 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana issued notice on the plea filed by Sohrabuddin’s brother Nayabuddin Shaikh. It challenges the High Court’s May 7 judgment upholding the acquittal of 21 police personnel from Gujarat and Rajasthan and the owner of a farmhouse.
The bench made clear that it would not reopen Union home minister Amit Shah’s discharge from the case.
“We hope that you are not assailing paragraph 43 (of a Bombay high court judgment which rejected an application questioning Shah’s discharge) or reopening a discharge that has become final (by an order passed by the apex court),” Justice Bagchi said.
“But the persons who were put on trial, whether there was a fair and just trial (that will be examined),” he added.
Chief Justice Kant said the court would examine witness statements relevant to the acquittals, but would not revisit Shah’s discharge. “We would like to see statements of some witnesses. We are not summoning the record. You give us whatever three-four statements you feel are vital. We will examine the acquittal,” he said.
“Ninety-two witnesses turning hostile is a concern. Whether there was a fair and just trial... that’s to be considered,” Justice Bagchi said.
The High Court had dismissed appeals filed by Sohrabuddin’s brothers Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin Shaikh against the December 2018 judgment of a special CBI court in Mumbai acquitting the 22 accused. It held that there was no ground to interfere with the trial court’s decision.
The Supreme Court had transferred the investigation to the CBI. According to the prosecution, Sohrabuddin, Kausar Bi and Prajapati were travelling by bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra when a police team allegedly took them into custody on the night of November 22–23, 2005.
The three were allegedly taken away in separate vehicles. The CBI alleged that Sohrabuddin was killed near Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005, in an encounter involving Gujarat and Rajasthan police personnel. Kausar Bi was allegedly killed three days later.
Prajapati, who was lodged in Udaipur Central Jail and was considered a key witness, was killed in a police encounter near the Gujarat–Rajasthan border on December 27, 2006. According to the prosecution, the farmhouse owned by one of the accused was used to detain Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi illegally.