1996 Porbandar encounter: SIT to reconstruct cases in Kirti Mandir area today

Sources in the SIT said,“We have recorded witness statements and collected evidences which show that the death of Jasu and Ram were extra judicial killings. The police theory given after the encounter doesn’t match with the sequence of events when collected from the statements of witnesses. Therefore,we are reconstructing the case at the encounter spot to plug the loopholes on when exactly the Shial brothers were killed.”

The SIT has appointed IPS officer Himanshu Shukla to probe the case of Jasu Gagan Shial who was killed in 1996. Verma was the SP of Porbandar when Jasu and Ram alias Ranmal Ahir were killed in police encounter while Narayan Jesti Bandhiya’s body was found hanging from a tree close to a police station. The police had claimed that Narayan had escaped from their custody and committed suicide. Jha and three teams of officers from SIT had visited the encounter site in June 2012 and collected evidences from there.

Jasu’s brother Hiralal had sought a fresh probe into the killing after which the HC directed the state government to form a SIT. Hiralal’s petition was filed after Verma,as a member of the HC appointed-SIT,begun probe in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The other two cases of Narayan Jesti Bandhiya and Ranmal Ahir are being probed by Porbandar SP Deepan Bhadran and Vadodara (Rural) SP Sandeep Singh,who have been appointed investigation officers.