Ishrat encounter: CBI sends judicial request to Pak

The CBI has sent a letter rogatory LR to Pakistan in connection with the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The replies of the judicial request,seeking to establish the identity of Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar who were killed in the Ahmedabad encounter along with 19-year-old Ishrat,is still awaited,said officials.

The agency had carried out a search in Jamp;K but could not gather any tangible evidence to establish their identities,the agency said. The CBI had also published an ad in Urdu papers of Jamp;K in July with their photos and promised a cash reward for anyone giving information.

A CBI spokesperson confirmed that a letter rogatory has been sent to Pakistan. Earlier,in its FIR,the Gujarat Police had claimed that Johar and Rana were Pakistani citizens who had come to India to eliminate state VIPs.

CBI has been able to get information about Ishrat and Javed as it included the statements of their relatives and people known to them in the chargesheet filed on July 3.