Tulsiram Prajapati case: Hearing on Shah's discharge plea adjourned

Mumbai, June 16: A special

court here today adjourned the hearing on the discharge application of BJP leader

in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case.

While the hearing on the discharge plea is now likely to be held on June 25, the regular hearing of the case will take place on June 20, for which Shah is likely to appear before the court.

The court had, on May 9, issued summons to Shah, a BJP general secretary and Gujarat's former Minister of State for Home, and other accused in the case, which had been transferred from Gujarat.

The CBI had charge-sheeted Shah and 18 others, including several police officers in the case last September.

According to CBI, gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was claimed to have links to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, and his wife Kauser Bi were abducted by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad when they were on their way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra and killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005.

Tulsiram Prajapati, an eye-witness to the encounter, was killed by police at Chapri village in Banaskantha district of Gujarat in December 2006.

Shah, who was then Minister of State for Home, was allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind both the incidents.

PTI