The Supreme Court on Monday quashed a fresh case registered against former Gujarat Minister and BJP general secretary Amit Shah in relation to death of Tulsiram Prajapati, the material witness in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter killing. The CBI, by its own admission, had agreed to Tulsiram killing being part of the Sohrabuddin probe. In this circumstance, the bench held that no fresh FIR was warranted as a supplementary chargesheet in the Sohrabuddin matter could have sufficed.
The CBI had claimed to possess material against Shah after Supreme Court gave permission to investigate the alleged disappearance of Tulsiram, the person who witnessed the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi. CBI went on to lodge a fresh FIR and presented a chargesheet naming Shah and several police officers in the state as accused. Shah challenged the fresh FIR on the ground that at best, only a supplementary chargesheet could be filed by CBI in the Sohrabuddin case.
The bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan found merit in Shah’s plea and said, “A second FIR in the given facts and circumstances is unwarranted; instead filing of a supplementary chargesheet in this regard will suffice the issue.” This was also to balance the fundamental rights of the accused with the power of the police to investigate a cognizable offence, it added.
As a consequence, the court directed the chargesheet filed on September 4, 2012 by the CBI in pursuance of the second FIR to be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in the Sohrabuddin case.