Sohrab case: Kataria gets anticipatory bail

Former Rajasthan home minister and senior BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria and three others were granted anticipatory bail by a local court in Mumbai in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case on Friday.

The CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet in the special court in Mumbai on May 14 against Kataria and prominent marble trader of Rajasthan, Vimal Patni, and two others.
The court had asked Kataria and Patni to appear before it on June 4. Kataria was later granted 10 days time.

The court then subsequently extended his interim bail till July 5 and asked the CBI to file a reply to the anticipatory bail petition. The court also directed the CBI not to arrest Kataria.

The BJP leader is accused of eliminating Sohrabuddin at the behest of the marble lobby in Rajasthan. Sohrabuddin had demanded a huge sum from Patni as protection money and this is alleged to be the prime reason for his killing.

Sohrabuddin and wife, Kauser Bi, were allegedly abducted from Hyderabad by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. Also, Sohrabuddin’s accomplice Tulsiram Prajapati was later killed in another encounter.

Kataria is at present leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan, and was the home minister at the time of the killings.

The CBI had earlier said that Sohrabuddin wanted to spread his extortion racket in Rajasthan and demanded the protection money in a bid to establish himself.