MUMBAI: Another prosecution witness in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases turned hostile today, taking the total number of such witnesses to 73.
The witness, Nasir Hussain, who was locked in the same cell with Tulsiram Prajapati and one Dinesh Gurjar, deposed before CBI judge S J Sharma today.
Hussain, in his earlier statement to the CBI, had said that he had written a letter in English, dictated by Gurjar on behalf of Prajapati, to the Human Rights Commission.
Hussain had also told the CBI that it was Gurjar who had brought Prajapati to him.
However, in the court today, Hussain said he didn't know Prajapati and denied writing any letter on his behalf, following which he was declared hostile by the prosecution.
Shaikh, a suspected gangster, and his wife Kauser Bi, were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat police in November 2005.
Prajapati was killed in another alleged fake gunfight by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police in December 2006.
Of the 38 people charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 15 have been discharged by the trial court in Mumbai.