Ishrat Jahan, 3 others killed in a fake encounter: CBI chargesheet

Mangalore Today News Network

Ahmedabad, July 3, 2013(CNN-IBN): Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in a fake encounter, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told an Ahmedabad court in the first chargesheet filed in the case on Wednesday. According to the CBI chargesheet Ishrat Jahan and three others were kept in illegal confinement, put on tranquilizer before they were killed in cold blood on June 15, 2004.

The CBI chargesheet says the agency has evidence to prove that the four were illegally detained and later killed in cold blood. But the CBI chargesheet does not mention whether Ishrat and others were terrorists or not.

 

Senior IPS officer DG Vanzara and other Gujarat police officers collected weapons from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) office and then planted them on Ishrat and others. The chargesheet says on Vanzara’s instructions, suspended IPS officer GL Singhal Singhal went to the IB office on June 14 and collected a bag of weapons used in the encounter.

According to the CBI IB officer Rajinder Kumar was heading state investigation bureau during the period when the encounter was carried out.

Gujarat Police officers were deployed in different places in the name of nakabandi (pickets) in Ahmedabad to manage the encounter, the chargesheet says. Charges of murder, kidnapping and illegal confinement against eight Gujarat Police officers including Vanzara have been slapped by the CBI.

In another important development Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Amit Shah have not been named in the first chargesheet. IB officer Rajinder Kumar, too, has not been named in the chargesheet as accused. But absconding Gujarat Additional Director General of Police PP Pandey has been named as one of the accused in the case.

The CBI chargesheet also says that Kumar and Pandey interacted with Ishrat and Javed at Khodiyar farm a few days before the encounter which conclusively proves that she was abducted by Gujarat Police officers NK Amin and Tarun Barot from Vasad toll booth.

People killed in the encounter on June 15, 2004:
Ishrat Jahan: A college girl from Mumbra, Maharashtra, belonged to a lower middle class family. Second of seven siblings, Ishrat was the breadwinner of the family after her father’s death in 2002.

Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh: A Mumbai-based petty criminal involved in counterfeit currency and smuggling. He was friends with Ishrat.

Amjad Ali Rana: Allegedly a Pakistani national but there’s no documentary evidence to prove it. His identity remains a mystery.

Zeeshan Johar: Allegrdly a Pakistani national but no one claimed his and Amjad Ali’s bodies after they were killed. Zeeshan was allegedly handed over to Gujarat police by IB officials before the encounter.

Ishrat Jahan case timeline:
On June 15, 2004 Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in an encounter near Ahmedabad. Police claim they were members of the Pakistan-based LeT on a mission to kill Modi.

The encounter killings of four people Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year-old girl from Mumbai, and three men - Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar took place on an empty road stretch between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

On June 11, 2004, Ishrat left for Nashik with Javed. It’s not known how she came to Gujarat on June 15

The probe:
September 2009: Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang calls the encounter fake.

September 2010: Gujarat HC constitutes new SIT after the RK Raghavan-headed SIT expresses its inability to undertake the probe. New SIT is headed by one IPS officer from outside Gujarat and two Gujarat cadre officers Mohan Jha and Satish Verma.

January 2011: Verma calls encounter fake, accuses other members of not allowing unbiased probe.

December 2011: HC orders CBI probe in the case.

February 2013: CBI makes its first arrest, Gujarat IPS GL Singhal. The detailed probe first by the SIT and subsequently by the CBI did not find any link between the dead and the LeT.

May 2013: CBI court issues an arrest warrant against Gujarat’s ADG PP Pande.

May 2013: IB special director Rajinder Kumar summoned for interrogation.

June 2013: CBI removes Verma from probe team, summons Rajinder Kumar.

June 28: Union Home Ministry refuses to sanction Kumar’s prosecution.

July 4: CBI files chargesheet, calls it a fake encounter. The agency says Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in a fake encounter.