‘Ishrat encounter faked by cops,IB’
'Ishrat,3 men abducted before killing; police drafted encounter FIR before it took place'
Ending weeks of suspense over its probe into the June 2004 killing of 19-year-old Mumbai student Ishrat Jahan and three men,the CBI Wednesday filed a chargesheet against seven Gujarat Police officers saying the four were abducted and eliminated in a fake encounter in collusion with the Intellligence Bureau.
The CBI claimed that the FIR about the encounter which said the four were Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists out to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was drafted before it took place. It alleged that the killing was a joint operation of the Gujarat Police and the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau SIB,which works under the Centre.
The agency has listed 179 witnesses in the case and said it is still probing the conspiracy and motive behind the killings and will soon file a supplementary chargesheet.
In the chargesheet filed in a special CBI court,the CBI claimed that sophisticated weapons were planted on Ishrat and the three men after they were procured from the SIB by one set of police officers.
These officers allegedly passed it on to their colleagues who participated in the shooting and planted the weapons on the four victims.
The CBI and the IB have been locked in a tussle over what the CBI says is the role of IB special director Rajinder Kumar,posted in Gujarat at the time of the incident.
The agency,which has been facing flak from the BJP for investigating the IB,said the charges were filed only after examining evidence. The CBIs investigations is based strictly on evidence,call records and examination of witnesses and there is no interference or involvement of any extraneous factor, CBI spokeswoman Dharini Mishra said.
Despite the Ministry of Home Affairs claiming that it is not convinced about the evidence against Kumar,the CBI chargesheet has claimed that Kumar,along with disgraced DIG D G Vanzara and Gujarat ADGP P P Pandey,held meetings at Vanzaras office.
It says the killings were planned by Vanzara,Pandey and Kumar in a meeting held at Vanzaras bungalow. It adds that Vanzara had drafted the FIR that was registered against the four alleged LeT operatives at the Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch in consultation with Pandey.
The officers are believed to have differed over the need to kill Ishrat but agreed on eliminating the three men – Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai,Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar.
Of the seven policemen named in the chargesheet,three are IPS officers: Pandey,who is absconding,Vanzara,who has been suspended,and Girish Singhal. They have been booked for abduction,murder,conspiracy,destruction of evidence and under other sections of the IPC and the Arms Act.
The other four police officers are DSPs N K Amin and Tarun Barot,inspector J G Parmar and commando Anaju Chaudhary. Another commando,Mohan Kalashva,is also said to have taken part in the incident but since he died in 2007,the CBI has submitted an abated summary against him.
CBI counsel Ejaz Khan told the special court that the role of four IB officials – Kumar,M K Sinha,T Mittal and Rajiv Wankhede – is being investigated.
Thirteen others against whom the CBI had registered an FIR do not figure in the charge sheet.
The chargesheet details how Ishrat,Javed,Zeeshan and Amjad were allegedly abducted at different times,from two months to a few days before the encounter,and illegally detained at different places.
It says Zeeshan was abducted and brought to Ahmedabad in April 2004 based on tip-offs from two of Rajinder Kumars informers,identified as Owais and Assad. He was illegally detained in a house in the Gota Housing colony,on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Amjad was brought to Ahmedabad in May 2004 and kept under illegal detention at Arham bungalow in the Koba area of Gandhinagar.
DSP Barot and Amin,along with Sinha and Wankhede,abducted Ishrat and Javed from Vasad on June 12,2004. They were first taken to Khodiyar farm house on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway in Ahmedabad and then detained at Arham bungalow in Gandhinagar. Two policemen,Nizamuddin Saiyed and Vishwanathan,were deployed to watch them.
On June 15,the four were brought blindfolded to a site near Kotarpur Waterworks close to the Ahmedabad airport. They were made to stand on the road divider and shot dead by Barot,Chaudhary and Kalashva.
Two AK-47 rifles and two 0.38 revolvers given by the SIB on Vanzaras orders were allegedly planted on them.
DISSECTING THE ENCOUNTER
Killing of Ishrat left,3 men planned by top cops D G Vanzara,P P Pandey and Rajinder Kumar.
Zeeshan Johar abducted and brought to Ahmedabad in April 2004,kept in a house on city outskirts.
Amjad Ali Rana brought to Ahmedabad in May 2004,detained in a Gandhinagar bungalow.
Ishrat and Javed Shaikh abducted by police and IB officers from Vasad in June 2004 and detained in a Gandhinagar bungalow.
All 4 brought blindfolded to encounter site close to Ahmedabad airport,made to stand on road divider and shot dead by 3 Gujarat police officers.
Two AK-47 rifles and two 0.38 revolvers supplied by the state IB planted on the bodies of the four.
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