Witness cops gave different versions: CBI

Another witness from Ibrahimpur,Mohammed Wasi,friend of Meraj,also testified before CBI on March 30,2012 in which he gave a detailed account of Javed,Ishrat and Amjad Ali’s stay at Ibrahimpur village. Javed,Wasi said,was carrying an unusually big mobile phone which he later discovered to be a satellite phone. According to Wasi,Meraj used to live in Mumbra at the relevant time and had come to the village after marriage. He also stated that Meraj had asked him to arrange for a pistol for Javed. Wasi,however,could not manage it. Earlier,Wasi had said that his statement was recorded in Gujarati by Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) and also before a magistrate in Ahmedabad after the encounter.

Similarly,there are witnesses who testified about Javed buying a second-hand blue Indica car in the name of a friend,Faiyaz,from Pune. The car was bought from Suresh Kumar Ahuja,who identified Javed before Pune Police,Ahmedabad Police and CBI when photos were shown to him after the encounter. Other witnesses testified that Javed and Ishrat had stayed at hotels in Lucknow and Ahmedabad as husband-wife during different periods.

Among other unchanged versions are the statements of Shaikh Shabbir Tahir Mohammed,brother-in-law of Sajida,Javed’s wife,in whose house Javed was last seen by the family before the encounter,and Asif Shaikh,Sajida’s second husband after Javed’s death.

According to Tahir Mohammed,Javed and Sajida had come to his place in Pune on June 8,2004 without informing him about their visit. He stated that on June 10,Javed got a call after which he hurriedly went outside the house. Later that day,he made a call from an STD booth. The next day,he added,Javed left for Mumbai for some “urgent business” matter. They got news of his death on June 16,2004.

Asif Shaikh testified that before going to Tahir Mohammed’s place in Pune,Javed had gone to Kerala,along with his family. While they were in Kerala,Asif added,two policemen had come to him and inquired about Javed and some other Muslims. “After the police officials left,I had called up Javed and informed him. Javed said he was on the way back to Pune and would handel it once her returned,” Asif testified.