Nearly 20 years later, Bombay HC upholds acquittal of 22 accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case

The State CID-Crime was asked to probe the encounters - and subsequently the CBI was tasked to "further investigate" the cases.

Mumbai: Nearly two decades after the sensational twin encounters involving alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and associate Tulsiram Prajapati, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals filed by their family members challenging the December 2018 acquittal of the 22 accused.

The Sohrabuddin Sheikh-Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases and the killing of Kausar Bi remain among the most politically-sensitive and legally contentious matters in India’s recent history.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad upheld the acquittal granted by a Special Court of theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and dismissed the appeals filed by Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s brothers, Rubabuddin Sheikh and Nayabuddin Sheikh.

“Appeals dismissed,” the court said.

The detailed order is awaited.

On December 21, 2018, then Special CBI Judge SJ Sharma had acquitted all the 22 accused, observing: “The prosecution has failed to put forth any documentary and substantive evidence to suggest or establish the alleged conspiracy and the chain of events… ‘jo purava diya gaya hai woh samadhankarak nahi hai’ (the evidence adduced was not satisfactory)… I am sorry… three lives were lost… but the judicial system and law demand that we go by evidence.”

The brothers of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, residents of Madhya Pradesh, had argued that the trial was flawed.

During the course of the trial, 210 witnesses were examined, but the prosecution’s case weakened after 92 of them turned hostile.

The appellants had sought directions for a retrial under Section 386(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

It is not yet clear whether the family members will challenge the High Court order before the Supreme Court of India.

“We will study the order and collectively decide whether to file an SLP in the Supreme Court… they have fought the case for 21 years and are exhausted,” said advocate Gautam Tiwari, who represented Rubabuddin Sheikh and Nayabuddin Sheikh in the High Court.

Among the 22 acquitted accused, 21 were junior-level officers from the Gujarat and Rajasthan police forces who were allegedly part of teams that abducted the three persons and later killed them in alleged fake encounters.

The twin encounters between November 2005 and December 2006 were allegedly carried out by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Gujarat police. Later, the State CID-Crime probed the encounters before the CBI was asked to conduct further investigation into the cases.

A total of 38 accused were chargesheeted, including then Gujarat Minister of State for Home and current Union Home Minister Amit Shah and former Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria.

Of the 38 accused, 16 — including Shah, Kataria and several IPS officers — were discharged between 2014 and 2017.

According to the ATS version, Sohrabuddin, allegedly linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan’s ISI, was allegedly plotting to assassinate an “important political leader”, believed to be then Gujarat Chief Minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In November 2025, the CBI informed the court that it had “accepted” the judgment of the Special CBI Court acquitting all 22 policemen in the case.

Those discharged from trial

1. Amit Shah — then Gujarat Minister of State for Home; now Union Home Minister

2. Gulab Chand Kataria — then Rajasthan Home Minister

3. Prashant Pande — then DGP, Gujarat

4. Om Prakash Mathur — Additional DGP, Gujarat

5. Geeta Johri — IG, Gujarat

6. Vimal Patni

7. D G Vanzara — DIG, Gujarat ATS

8. N S Balasubramanian — SP, Andhra Pradesh

9. Vipul Aggarwal — SP, Gujarat

10. Rajkumar Pandian — SP, Gujarat

11. Dinesh M N — SP, Rajasthan

12. Abhay Chudasama — SP, Gujarat

13. Ajay Patel — Gujarat

14. Yashpal Singh Chudasama — Gujarat

15. Narendra Amin — DySP, Gujarat

16. Dalpat Singh Rathod — Head Constable, Rajasthan Police

The accused who were acquitted

1. M L Parmar

2. Raman Singh

3. Narayansing Dhabi

4. Shyam Singh

5. Abdur Rehman

6. Himanshu Singh Rajawat

7. Balkrishna Choubey

8. Rajubhai Jeerawala

9. Ajay Parmar

10. Shantram Sharma

11. Yudhveer Singh

12. Kartar Singh

13. Narayan Singh Jat

14. Vijaykumar Rathod

15. C P Srinivasa Rao

16. Jethu Solanki

17. Kiran Singh Chauhan

18. Vinod Limbachia

19. Kanjibhai Kutchi

20. Karan Singh Sishodia

21. Ashish Pandya

22. Naresh Chauhan