CBI plea for possession of Sohrabuddin Sheikh case articles denied

The CBI on Monday filed an application before the principle sessions judge for possession of the articles seized by the state CID during its investigation of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The court, however, turned down the probe agency's plea on the issue of jurisdiction.

Sources said the CBI wanted possession of articles such as Sohrabuddin's clothes, his vehicle, phone and some other articles that were recovered from the slain gangster and from the site of the encounter.

The court, however, refused to grant permission for possession of the articles on the ground that the sessions court did not have any jurisdiction in the matter as the case had been transferred to the CBI. Hence the probe agency should file an application before the CBI court and seek proper orders from that court for possession of the articles.

The Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case was handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court in January this year. After taking over the investigation from the state CID, the CBI had arrested the then DCP (crime) Abhay Chudasama, and Gujarat's former minister of state for home Amit Shah. In July this year, the CBI also filed a chargesheet in the case.