The Bombay High Court, which on Thursday (May 7, 2026) upheld the acquittal of 22 accused persons in the 2005 case of alleged fake encounter of Gujarat gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has stated that the prosecution had failed to establish a case. A copy of the court order was made public on Friday (May 8).
A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad, dismissed appeals filed by Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s brothers, Rubabuddin Sheikh and Nayamuddin Sheikh. The appeals challenged a December 21, 2018 trial court order that acquitted 22 police personnel from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh 'fake' encounter killing case: CBI court acquits all 22 accused
The case pertains to the alleged extrajudicial killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005, the disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi, and the subsequent death of Tulsiram Prajapati in December 2006. According to the prosecution, the three were abducted from a luxury bus near Zahirabad and later killed in staged encounters as part of a criminal conspiracy allegedly involving police officers and politicians.
The Bench noted that the prosecution examined 210 witnesses, of whom 92 turned hostile. “There is no ground to draw an inference that the trial was not conducted properly because 92 prosecution witnesses turned hostile,” the court said. It added that these witnesses, when cross-examined by the prosecution, denied having made any statement to the police in support of the prosecution case.
