The CBI on Thursday appealed to the Gujarat High Court against a lower court’s refusal to allow a voice sample test of two accused policemen in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case.
Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court Judge G.K. Upadhayay on Jan 5 had set aside a magistrate’s order earlier that allowed the probe agency to conduct a voice sample test of former deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Abhay Chudasama and policeman N.V. Chauhan.
Magistrate A.Y. Dave had granted the CBI permission to take voice samples of Chudasama, Chauhan as well as N.K. Amin, another police officer accused in the case.
Amin, who wished to turn approver in the case but subsequently withdrew his plea, had on the sly recorded a conversation with Chauhan which revealed the entire plot of the staged shootout. The sting tapes were presented as evidence before the trial court.
Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausarbi were picked up by Gujarat Police while they were travelling to Sangli in Maharashtra from Hyderabad on Nov 22, 2005.
On Nov 26, 2005, Gujarat Police personnel killed Sohrabuddin in a shootout. Kausarbi, missing without a trace since then, is believed to have died under mysterious circumstances a few days later.
