Accused ex-cop in Sohrabuddin case calls charges false, fabricated

An accused in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh "fake" encounter case told a special court here Monday that the entire case against him was "false and fabricated".

Former police inspector Narayan Sinh Dabhi recorded his statement under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Monday before special CBI Judge S J Sharma.

Under the provision, after the examination of witnesses, a final chance is given to an accused to record his statement.

The judge posed over 400 questions to Dabhi after which the court asked if the accused wanted to say anything more. To this, Dabhi said the case against him was false and fabricated.

"Right from the beginning, this case has been false and hoisted upon me," he said.

Dabhi, a former inspector with the Gujarat ATS, is accused of being part of the team that killed Shaikh on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in November 2005.

He further told the court that the entire material or evidence produced on record was "fabricated", "manipulated" and "concocted".

Dabhi claimed not to have committed any crime and that the case was a result of "political rivalries".

"I have not committed any crime as charged or alleged against me. The entire case is on the account of rivalries of two political parties and senior police officials," he said.

"I have no personal grudge for anything against the deceased," Dabhi added.

Shaikh, a suspected gangster with terror links, was shot dead on November 26, 2005, while he was in the custody of the Gujarat police, in an alleged fake encounter. His wife Kausar Bi was allegedly killed later.

Tulsiram Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by Gujarat and Rajasthan police personnel at Chapri in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006.

Of the 38 people charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the alleged fake encounters, 16 persons, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah (who was the minister of state for home in Gujarat then) and all senior police officials, have been discharged.

Currently, 22 accused are facing the trial and the process of recording their statements will continue Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies.)