Sohrab trial: One by one, 92 witnesses turned hostile, sank case

MUMBAI: One of the biggest blows to the prosecution's case was the unprecedented number of witnesses who resiled from alleged statements given to the CBI and turned hostile in court.

Of the 210 witnesses, 92 - many crucial to establishing the prosecution's theories of the abduction of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausarbi and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati from a bus near Hyderabad and even Tulsiram's presence on that bus - turned hostile. On April 18, 2018, the 50th witness, a passenger on the bus who was touted to be an eyewitness to the abduction, was declared hostile.

During her deposition, the witness denied telling the CBI that on the midnight of November 22, 2005, while she was on a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli, the vehicle was suddenly stopped and people identifying themselves as cops took two men and a burqa-clad woman with them. The woman told the court that she was sleeping during the journey. She also denied that in addition to her parents-in-law, her husband was also travelling with her.

The woman's husband and father-in-law had deposed in court earlier and they too were declared hostile. Her mother-in-law had died before the trial began on November 29, 2017.

Although not declared hostile, a brother of Sohrabuddin who deposed on September 17 too claimed that Prajapati was not with Sohrabuddin and his wife during their alleged abduction.