Ahmedabad: In a setback to Gujarat government,
a judicial probe says the 2004 killing of young college girl
Ishrat Jahan and three others suspected to be on a mission to
"kill" Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a case of "fake
encounter" by the police.
Metropolitan Magistrate SP Tamang's probe report submitted
in the metropolitan court here on Monday said the four persons who
were also suspected to be having links with Pakistan-based
terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed in cold
blood by the police.
Magistrate Tamang in his report has claimed that the four
were not linked to LeT. Mumbai-based Ishrat (19) was killed in
an encounter along with three other persons – Javed Ghulam
Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar
Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani – by Detection of
Crime Branch (DCB) officials near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
The then head of DCB DG Vanzara who is a prime accused
in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case is behind bars at
present had claimed that all the four had links to LeT and
they were on a mission to kill Modi.
Last month the Gujarat High Court had formed a
three-member committee headed by an officer of the rank of
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) to further
investigate the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. This was done
following a petition by Ishrat's mother Shamina, who alleged
her daughter was killed in a fake encounter by Gujarat police.
After the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, this was the
second case where an encounter involving Gujarat police during
the Narendra Modi rule is being probed again.
The report said in order to achieve their goals the
police officers hatched a plan and illegally detained the four
from Mumbai and brought them to Ahmedabad.
It further alleged the police officers had believed that
death of Muslim LeT operative in a police encounter would be
easily accepted by everybody.
After the killing, a judicial probe was initiated
under the CrPC 176.
A judicial inquiry under CrPC 176 is conducted in case of
unnatural death of a person.
Following a petition by Ishrat's mother the Gujarat High
Court had last month formed a three-member committee headed by
an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of
Police (ADGP) to further investigate the 2004 encounter case.
After the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, this was the
second case where an encounter involving Gujarat police during
the Narendra Modi rule is being probed again.
The then head of DCB DG Vanzara who is a prime accused
in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case is behind bars at
present had claimed that all the four had links to LeT and
they were on a mission to kill Modi.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 07, 2009, 23:23