Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Deputy Superintendent of Police M L Parmar, one of the accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case and subsequent killing of his wife Kausarbi.
Along with Parmar, co-accused - DySP Narendra Amin and police Inspector Balkrishna Rajendra Prasad - had also moved the court seeking bail in the same case.
Justice A M Thipsay, while rejecting Parmar`s bail, called for Amin`s medical report and kept his bail petition for pronouncement of order after a week.
The court has also directed that the trial in a Mumbai court should be completed within a year.
Counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Amin, argued that apart from other contentions concerning the merits of the case, the court should also take into account the health of the accused, who is admitted to a hospital in Ahmedabad.
CBI Counsel Hiten Venegaokar argued that not only was Amin present during the cremation of Kausarbi, but he had also accompanied the body along with another police sub-inspector to the place of the cremation.
Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, who had initially argued for Amin, had contended that the only role attributed to him was that he was present at the cremation of Kausarbi along with other accused police officials in the encounter case.
Advocate Amit Nair, appearing for Parmar, submitted that his client has been in jail for more than five years. Nair said that Parmar was not even part of the encounter team or while cremating the body.
The High Court will start hearing the bail petitions filed by four other police officers from February 25.
Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh was alleged to have been killed in a fake encounter in Gujarat on November 26, 2005, while he was in police custody.
According to police, apart from being allegedly involved in the criminal extortion racket in Gujarat, Sheikh was also involved in arms smuggling in Madhya Pradesh, and had murder cases registered against him in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The trial in the case was transferred to Mumbai by Supreme Court after CBI said that witnesses were being threatened and trial cannot be fair in Gujarat.
PTI
