Death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh

Accused non-governmental criminals and their associates include Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi, Tulsiram Prajapati, and Sylvester Daniel.

Accused police and officials include Vipul Aggarwal, Abhay Chudasma, Geetha Johri, Dinesh MN, Rajkumar Pandian, P.P. Pandey, Ashish Pandya, Amit Shah, and D. G. Vanzara.

Judges, lawyers, and prosecutors involved in the case include JT Utpat, BH Loya, MB Gosavi, and Shrikant Khandalkar.

Witnesses for the prosecution include Rajnish Rai.

In addition to the various cases directly connected to the death of Sohrabuddin and his wife, other related cases include the Tulsiram Prajapati killing, the Ishrat Jahan case, the murder of Haren Pandya, and the Popular Builders firing case.

On 23-24 November 2005 Gujarati police inspector D. G. Vanzara took custody of history-sheeter Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi, and Tulsiram Prajapati as they traveled by bus in Sangli, Maharashtra.[7] Vanzara sent Tulsiram to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where the Rajastani police took custody of him and took him to Udaipur, Rajastan.[7]

On 26 November police shot and killed Sohrabuddin in what they would describe as a police encounter.[7] On 28-29 November in a village in Ilol someone murdered and cremated Kauser Bi.[7] Some accounts say that someone raped her also.[7] In December Sohrabuddin's brother wrote to the Chief Justice of India claiming murder with police involvement.[7] In response, the Supreme Court of India directed the Criminal Investigation Department in Gujarat to take the case from police and themselves investigate it.[7]

A year later on 26 December 2006 police reported that Tulsiram had escaped from police custody.[7] On 28 December a police encounter led to the Tulsiram Prajapati killing between the town of Ambaji and the village of Sarhad Chapri near the border between Gujarat and Rajastan.[7]

In February 2007 DIG Rajnish Rai submits a report to the CID.[7] In April Rai arrests fellow IPS officers Dinesh MN, Rajkumar Pandian, and D. G. Vanzara.[8][7] Weeks later Rai leaves the case investigation.[7]

Early in 2010 the Supreme Court transfers the investigation of the case from the police in Gujarat to the CBI office in Mumbai.[7] In April 2010 CBI arrests DIG Abhay Chudasma on charges of criminal collaboration with the deceased Sohrabuddin.[9][7] Chudasma was the 14th police officer arrested in the case.[9] In July 2010 CBI chargesheeted and arrested Amit Shah, who was then Minister of State for the Government of Gujarat.[7]

In April 2011 CBI took control of the investigation into the Tulsiram Prajapati killing.[7] In 2012 the SC transfered the trial from the Gujarat High Court to the Bombay High Court to promote a more fair trial.[7] In 2013 the SC combined the cases of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser Bi, and Tulsiram.[7]

In May 2014 Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India, which was related to the case because defendant Amit Shah was his close advisor.[7] The SC had stated that one judge should oversee the entire case.[7] The first judge, J T Utpat, had ordered Amit Shah to appear in court.[7] Judge Utpat left the case for unclear reasons in June 2014 and BH Loya replaced him.[7] Judge Loya also insisted that Shah appear in court.[7] In December 2014 Judge Loya died in strange circumstances.[7] Judge MB Gosavi replaced Loya.[7] That month, the court discharged Shah from the case.[7]

In November 2015 Sohrabuddin's brother petitioned the Bombay High Court with a challenge Shah's discharge.[7] Within days, he withdraws his petition.[7] Activist Harsh Mander petitions the court with his own challenge against Shah's discharge first to the Bombay court then the SC, but by the end of 2016 both courts dismissed Mander for lack of standing.[7]

In November 2017 CBI Judge SJ Sharma begins the trial.[7] Of 210 witnesses, 92 withdraw or change their earlier testimony and become hostile.[7] Also in that month The Caravan publishes a story from Judge Loya's family in which they describe strange and hidden circumstances of his death.[7][10] In January 2018 Judge Dipak Misra declares that Loya's death was by natural causes.[7]

In September 2018 the court discharges several of the accused including Dinesh, Pandian, and Vanzara.[7] In November the witness examination ends without the defense producing any witnesses.[7] In December the court heard final arguments, and on 21 December the court discharged all 22 accused due to lack of evidence.[7]

On November 23, 2005, Sohrabuddin Sheikh was traveling on a public bus with his wife, Kauser Bi, from Hyderabad to Sangli, Maharashtra. At 01:30 am, the Gujarat police ATS stopped the bus and took them away.[12] Kauser wanted to stay with her husband, but was taken to a Disha farmhouse outside Ahmedabad instead.

Three days later, Sheikh was killed in an encounter on a highway at Vishala Circle near Ahmedabad. The report filed in the Supreme Court by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) quotes a number of witnesses and builds up a narrative of the killing.[13]

The encounter killing was exposed after a few police inspectors boasted about it over drinks with journalist Prashant Dayal. Dayal conducted his own investigations at the farmhouse, and then at Illol, and ascertained that a burqa-clad woman had been cremated there. He then broke the story in November 2006, in the leading Gujarati newspaper, Divya Bhaskar,[14] and gave details of the encounter.

Meanwhile, Sheikh's brother Rubabuddin petitioned the Supreme Court claiming that the Gujarat police had orchestrated the encounter and demanded to be given information on the location of his sister-in-law Kauser. In March 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the state Criminal Investigation Department to conduct a time-bound investigation. Inspector-General Geetha Johri was given the task of conducting the investigation, and was to report directly to the court. She gathered evidence that implicated the role of several police officers in the encounter. However, it has been claimed that she may have "steered clear of linking them to a political conspiracy".[15] Based on the evidence collected by Johri, DIG Police Rajnish Rai on April 24, 2007, arrested DIG (Border Range) D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, Superintendent of Police with the Intelligence Bureau, and M.N. Dinesh of Rajasthan police, who is alleged to have been working at the behest of the marble lobby.[16]

The Supreme Court asked the Gujarat government to place before it the inquiry reports prepared by Johri, which had allegedly said that Sheikh was killed in an encounter killing. Johri was removed from the investigation after this report was published.[17] On May 3, 2007, the court asked the government whether Johri had been dismissed from the investigation so that a further probe would not be carried out, and directed it to submit a final report on May 15, the day it will give the final order.[18]

In Part B of the report, Johri recorded facts relating to repeated attempts by the accused police officers and Amit Shah to sabotage the Supreme Court mandated enquiry. The report states that Shah "brought to bear pressure" on the enquiry process, with the result that Ms. Johri was directed to suspend the enquiry and the enquiry papers were taken away from her "under the guise of scrutiny." Johri also records that Shah even "directed Shri G.C. Raigar, Additional Director General of Police, CID (Crime & Railways) to provide him with the list of witnesses, both police and private, who are yet to be contacted by CID (Crime) for recording their statement in the said enquiry."[19]

The government was asked by the court to give the reason for Johri's removal from the case on May 15.[20] Not finding the Gujarat government's explanations satisfactory, the bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyam ruled that Johri would report directly to the Supreme Court. She was reinstated in the same position and also asked to head the case.[21]