Fake encounter case: CBI court drops charges against Geetha Johri

AHMEDABAD: In a big relief to additional director general of police Geetha Johri, the special CBI court in Mumbai on Monday dropped the case against her in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case. Sohrabuddin was allegedly killed by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter in 2005 and Prajapati was said to have been similarly eliminated in 2006.

Johri is the fifth accused in the encounter case to be discharged by the court. Special judge M B Gosavi dropped the charges against Johri for want of the mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for prosecution of a government employee.

Earlier, Johri and other accused policemen had filed applications requesting the CBI court in Ahmedabad not to take note of the chargesheet against them as the prosecuting agency had not taken prior sanction for their prosecution from the government.



Johri was the supervising authority in the investigation of the Sohrabuddin encounter case in 2005 and 2007. On September 4, 2012, she was charged with conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence for allegedly delaying the probe and not allowing then investigating officer of the case, VL Solanki, to question Tulsiram in Udaipur jail in December 2006. Tulsi was killed on December 28 close to the Rajasthan-Gujarat border.

The CBI had filed chargesheet against 20 people, including Johri and former Gujarat minister Amit Shah and retired IPS officers PC Pande and OP Mathur.