Ahmedabad: A witness in the Sohrabuddin
Sheikh fake encounter case has said he had gone underground as
he feared that the CBI, which is probing the case, would force
him to make "more false statements".
The witness, Noor Mohammad Goghari, told this to a court
hearing the Popular Builder firing case yesterday in which he
is an accused.
According to CBI charge sheet, firing at Popular builder
in December 2004 was stage managed by some of the accused in
fake encounter case with the purpose of lodging FIR against
Sohrabuddin in Gujarat.
Goghari is shown as a witness in the charge sheet in the
Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and his statement, recorded
under Section 161 of CrPC, has been included in it.
As per the statement, he has said he was threatened by
IPS officers accused in the fake encounter case.
He told the court hat he did not appear during the last
hearing as he feared that CBI would pick him up, make false
statements on his behalf and implicate him in the fake
encounter case.
In his application before additional sessions judge I B
Waghela, who had issued warrant against him, Goghari said he
was called to the CBI office for questioning in fake encounter
case, where he had denied having information about the case.
He said the CBI officials pressurised him to make
statements of their choice, saying they would help him out in
the Popular Builder firing case.
In application for cancellation of warrant against him,
Goghari said he feared arrest after IPS officer Abhay
Chudasama was held by the CBI.
He said he went into hiding for protection even without
informing his family, after the arrest of Chudasama in April
this year.
Goghari in his statement before CBI had said that some of
the accused IPS officers in the fake encounter case like D G
Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandiyan and Chudasama, had threatened him.
He had also said that Chudasama had framed him in a case
where he had to spend three years in jail, before he was
bailed out.
PTI
