Sohrabuddin Sheikh case claims yet another judge, says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: In yet another attack on the Narendra Modi regime, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday raked up the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged encounter case, claiming that it has claimed yet another judge.

The Congress leader's critical remarks came after a batch of pleas related to the matter were assigned to a new single-judge bench of the Bombay High Court.

Rahul took to Twitter and tweeted, ''The Sohrabuddin case claims yet another Judge. Justice Revati Dere, who challenged the CBI, has been removed. Judge J T Utpat, asked Amit Shah to appear, and was removed.''

The Sohrabuddin case claims yet another Judge.

Justice Revati Dere, who challenged the CBI has been removed.

Judge J T Utpat, asked Amit Shah to appear and was removed.

Judge Loya asked tough questions. He died. #HowDidLoyaDie? https://t.co/iNFLVIEQni — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 27, 2018

The Gandhi scion also cited media reports that the judge hearing the case has been replaced, and tagged the same on Twitter.

Rahul also referred to the death of CBI judge BG Loya, who was earlier hearing the case and used the hashtag "#HowDidLoyaDie?" with his tweet.

"Judge Loya asked tough questions. He died. #HowDidLoyaDie?," Gandhi said on Twitter.

A batch of petitions challenging the acquittal of some senior IPS officers in connection with the case of alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh were assigned to a new single-judge bench of the Bombay High Court.

The latest development in the case came nearly three weeks after Justice Dere started day-to-day hearing in the matter.

A notice published on the high court website said that Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, who was dealing with the petitions, will no longer hear criminal revision applications. 

Apart from Justice Mohite-Dere, the assignment of cases of some other judges has also been changed.

Sohrabuddin Shaikh, a gangster with alleged terror links, and his wife Kausar Bi were killed in a suspected fake encounter by the Gujarat police in November 2005.

Shaikh's aide Tulsiram Prajapati was killed in another alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police in December 2006.

BJP national president Amit Shah, who was the home minister of Gujarat at the time of the alleged encounter, was among 15 persons who were acquitted by the CBI court in Mumbai between August 2016 and September 2017. 

(With PTI inputs)