The Trail...

Despite SC order that the same trial judge who starts hearing the case should conclude it, Sohrabuddin case has seen three judges

One year after being assigned the trial in the CBI special court, J.T. Utpat was transferred in June 2014

Utpat’s successor Brijmohan Loya died at a government guesthouse in Nagpur on November 30, 2014

Loya’s successor M.B. Gosavi heard Amit Shah’s discharge petition from December 15-17, and delivered a 75-page order on December 30, 2014

Dropping of charges against Shah has led to a flurry of discharge petitions being filed by other accused

***

The tantalising phrase “somewhat opposed to common sense” is likely to ring in the ears of BJP national president Amit Anilchandra Shah for a long time to come. The five words were uttered on the penultimate day of 2014 by a trial judge in a CBI special court in Mumbai to let...