Prajapati encounter: Didn't find chili powder in cops' eyes, doctor tells court

A doctor, who had examined two policemen after Tulsiram Prajapati "escaped" from their custody at Himmatnagar in Gujarat, today told the CBI court here that no trace of chili powder was found in their eyes.

While the CBI's contention is that Prajapati, an aide of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, was killed in a fake encounter, according to Gujarat and Rajasthan police forces, he "escaped" from custody after throwing chili powder in policemen's eyes and was later killed in an alleged encounter.

The Mumbai court is currently conducting the trial in the case related to alleged fake encounters of Shaikh and Prajapati and killing of Shaikh's wife.

As per the police, Prajapati escaped near Himmatnagar station in 2006 when he was being taken back to Udaipur jail by train after a hearing in Ahmedabad court.

After the alleged escape, policemen Yudhvir Sinh and Kartar Sinh who were escorting Prajapati were sent to a civil hospital for treatment.

Dr Manishbhai Suvera, who examined them, told in his testimony before CBI judge S J Sharma yesterday that he had not found any trace of chili powder in the eyes of two policemen.

He referred them to an eye specialist who too did not find any foreign material in their eyes, Suvera said.

Shaikh, a gangster with alleged terror links, was killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat Police in November 2005. His wife Kausar Bi too was allegedly killed.

Prajapati, witness to the killings, was killed in another alleged fake encounter by Gujarat and Rajasthan police in December 2006.

The CBI had named 38 people including many senior police officials as accused in its charge sheet. The court here discharged 15 of them.