Mumbai: The process of transferring the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case to the city has started with the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dispatching records pertaining to the case to the Bombay High Court.
"The papers of the case have been dispatched and would reach Mumbai by Wednesday," special CBI prosecutor Ejaz Khan said.
On September 27, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the case to Maharashtra from Gujarat on CBI`s application that witnesses were being intimidated and the trial could not be held in a free and fair manner in Gujarat.
The CBI has alleged that former Gujarat minister Amit Shah was the kingpin of the conspiracy in the case.
The agency had also prayed for the transfer of Sohrabuddin`s close aide Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case saying both the cases are closely connected and their trials should be held together.
While the Gujarat High Court has already dispatched the records of the Sohrabuddin case, the charge sheet filed against the police officers in the Prajapati case is pending before the special court in Gujarat for taking cognisance.
"Soon the CBI will also seek to transfer the Prajapati case to Mumbai for trial along with the Sohrabuddin case since both the cases are interlinked," Khan said.
Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly abducted by Gujarat`s Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad and killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005 in an operation involving the police forces of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
Prajapati, the key witness to the encounter, was also allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in December 2006.
PTI
