Final arguments in Sohrabuddin Shaikh case to begin on Dec 3

Mumbai, Dec 1: The final arguments in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases will take place from Monday onwards.

Let us begin the final arguments from December 3 onwards, S J Sharma, judge of the special CBI court in Mumbai said. The judge announced the date after completing the process of recording the statements of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The case of the prosecution was that Shaikh had connections with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and was also conspiring to eliminate an important political personality. In all there were 38 accused in the case, but 16 were discharged. 15 were discharged by the special CBI court and one by the Bombay High Court.

The trial saw a total of 210 prosecution witnesses being examined. 92 have however turned hostile.
The case was transferred to Mumbai in 2010 following a request by the CBI for a trial. In 2013, the Supreme Court had clubbed the case relating to the killing of Prajapati with the Shaikh encounter case. In 2014, the special CBI judge in Mumbai discharged Amit Shah and 16 other co-accused while citing lack of evidence against them.