Mumbai: One more prosecution witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases turned hostile before a special CBI court here on Wednesday, taking the total number of such witnesses to 59. The court has so far examined over 85 prosecution witnesses, of whom 59 have turned hostile. Two witnesses — Sushil Tiwari, an advocate, and his clerk Devendra Sharma — deposed before special judge S J Sharma. Of them, Tiwari retracted his past statement, while Sharma stood by his earlier statement given to the investigating agency.
As per Tiwari’s earlier statement, he had met Prajapati in May 2006 at the district court in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on the request of Sharma, who was known to Prajapati. Prajapati was brought from the Udaipur central jail to Ujjain for his appearance in the district court. As per the statement, Prajapati had told Tiwari that there was a conspiracy to kill him inside the jail and he had been assaulted, along with his fellow inmates, inside the prison. Prajapati told this to Tiwari and sought his help.
Thereafter, Tiwari typed an application addressed to the Udaipur Collector, praying for Prajapati’s safety. The letter was handed over to Sharma for dispatch by post. However, Tiwari on Wednesday said he had neither written nor seen any such letter.