One more witness has been declared hostile on Thursday in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases, taking the count of such witnesses to 72. A total of 110 witnesses have deposed so far.
Vasantbhai Barot, a railway parking contractor at Himmatnagar station in Gujarat, denied in court that he had ever worked as an agent for a vehicle rental agency at Civil Hospital Circle, Himmatnagar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that after being dropped off at Palanpur in this rented vehicle, the three Rajasthani policemen, assistant sub-inspector Narayan Singh and police constables Kartar Singh and Yudhvir Singh, headed towards Ambaji in a different Jeep, where Prajapati was brought in a Maruti car and shot dead.
Mr. Barot said he had never made arrangements for providing a rental car to Himmatnagar police officials for travelling to Palanpur, Gujarat.
His testimony contradicted his statement recorded by the agency at Gandhinagar on June 20, 2012. According to the statement, Mr. Barot, then employed as an agent of a vehicle rental agency, had provided a car to officials of Himmatnagar railway police station on the request of constable Pratap Bhai to travel to Palanpur on December 27, 2006. He categorically said he had never worked with a vehicle rental agency.
CBI prosecutor B.P. Raju requested Judge S.J. Sharma to declare him hostile. “The witness is lying to protect the accused policemen,” Mr. Raju said.
However, Kalyansinh Pawar, a fruit vendor working near Himmatnagar railway station, deposed that he had been called by the Gujarat railway police (GRP) at the Himmatnagar Outpost, where he had seen four Rajasthani policemen. He said he was shown a black mobile phone by the GRP, and signed a panchnama to the effect. The phone was allegedly dropped by Prajapati while escaping arrest near Shamlaji station.