SC gives CBI two weeks' extension in Prajapati case

New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday gave the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) another two weeks' time to complete its investigation and file a chargesheet in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake shootout case.

An apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice Swatanter Kumar also told the investigating agency that this would be the last extension.

Tulsiram Prajapati, according to the CBI, was an eyewitness to the abduction of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi by Gujarat police in 2005 while they were travelling from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharshtra.

The CBI has said that Prajapati travelled with the couple from Hyderabad by roadways bus in November 2005.

The probe agency had sought one month's time to prepare the final report and file the chargesheet in the case.

It said that the extension has been necessitated because of the change in the chief investigating officer. The investigating agency said the earlier chief investigating officer has been replaced by CBI Superintendent of Police Sandeep Tamgadge.

The apex court has handed over the investigation in the case to the CBI on the plea by Prajapati's mother Narmada Bai April 8 last year.

The investigating agency told the court that it had undertaken detailed investigation in the "abduction and fake encounter of Tulsiram Prajapati".

CBI said that it had also undertaken detailed investigation in Andhra Pradesh by examining and recording the statements of a number of police officers apart from probing other aspects of the case.

It was alleged that Gujarat Police officials were helped by Andhra Pradesh Police personnel when they trailed Sohrabuddin and his wife from Hyderabad before abducting them. However, the identity of the latter remains a mystery till date.