A special CBI court acquitted all the 22 accused in the case in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife.
[3][4] Although the target of Sheikh's plans has never been officially revealed, the impression was given to political effect that it was to have been Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
[3][4][5] During investigations before he was arrested, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat police claimed to have found 40 AK-47 assault rifles from his residence Village Jhirniya, District Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
[6] Accused non-governmental criminals and their associates include Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi, Tulsiram Prajapati, and Sylvester Daniel.
Accused police and officials include Vipul Aggarwal, Abhay Chudasama, Geetha Johri, Dinesh MN, Rajkumar Pandian, P.P.
Judges, lawyers, and prosecutors involved in the case include JT Utpat, BH Loya, MB Gosavi, and Shrikant Khandalkar.
On 23–24 November 2005 Gujarati police deputy inspector general D. G. Vanzara took custody of history-sheeter Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi, and Tulsiram Prajapati as they travelled by bus in Sangli, Maharashtra.
[8] On 28 December a police encounter led to the Tulsiram Prajapati killing between the town of Ambaji and the village of Sarhad Chapri near the border between Gujarat and Rajasthan.
[8] In May 2014 Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India, which was related to the case because defendant Amit Shah was his close advisor.
[8] Also in that month The Caravan publishes a story from Judge Loya's family in which they describe strange and hidden circumstances of his death.
[8] Sohrabuddin Sheikh was accused of possessing 40 AK-47 assault rifles that were recovered from his house in Jharania village of Ujjain district in 1995.
On 23 November 2005, Sohrabuddin Sheikh was traveling on a public bus with his wife, Kauser Bi, from Hyderabad to Sangli, Maharashtra.
The report filed in the Supreme Court by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) quotes a number of witnesses and builds up a narrative of the killing.
Meanwhile, Sheikh's brother Rubabuddin petitioned the Supreme Court claiming that the Gujarat police had orchestrated the encounter and demanded to be given information on the location of his sister-in-law Kauser.
[20] In Part B of the report, Johri recorded facts relating to repeated attempts by the accused police officers and Amit Shah to sabotage the Supreme Court mandated enquiry.
[23] The newspaper DNA, citing sources in the Gujarat State Police, reported in August 2011 that Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram may have been "used to kill Haren Pandya",[24] the erstwhile BJP leader who was once close to Narendra Modi.
The murder remains unsolved[25] after 12 people arrested for it were released in what the high court called a "botched up and blinkered" investigation.
[31] Eventually, on 12 January 2010, the Supreme Court observed that "the facts surrounding Prajapati's death evokes strong suspicion that a deliberate attempt was made to destroy a human witness".
Subsequently, the CBI arrested senior Gujarat police officer Abhay Chudasama, who was charged with extortion in partnership with Sheikh.
[15] Suspicion of political interference intensified after the evidence handed over to the CBI from the state investigations showed that 331 phone calls by Shah to the concerned police officers had been deleted from the records.
10 crores by R.K. Patni, the owner of RK marbles who was acquainted with Indian National Congress leaders,[36] to eliminate Sheikh.
[37] But BJP MLAs Gulab Chand Kataria and Om Prakash Mathur from the neighbouring state of Rajasthan also got named in the case.
[42] When the court found no evidence of guilt at the end, Gandhi remarked that somehow various people died from strange circumstances.
[43] A publication advocating for rule of law in India criticized the circumstances of the case for the normalization of extraordinary and gruesome occurrences, and for out of process police investigation, and for unacceptably poor courtroom proceedings.
[44] News sources including The Hindu,[45] Deccan Herald,[46] and The Indian Express[47] described the case as a failure of the justice system.
National Herald claimed that the court inappropriately issued a gag order to prevent media coverage of the case.