Ishrat,Javed kidnapped by IB men: CBI

The CBIs chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case details the role of intelligence officers under the then IB Joint Director Rajinder Kumar

The CBIs chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case details the role of intelligence officers under the then IB Joint Director Rajinder Kumar in the killings of the four people,from abducting Ishrat Jahan and Javed Shaikh to planting weapons on them.

Though the CBI does not name any IB official as accused in the chargesheet,it specifies the roles of four IB officers in Ahmedabad,including Kumar,who is now Special Director based in Delhi.

According to the chargesheet Assistant Central Intelligence Officers operations Rajiv Wankhede and M K Sinha abducted Ishrat and Javed on July 12,2004,from Vasad toll booth in Anand district. These two officers were accompanied by suspended DSP N K Amin and Tarun Barot who have been chargesheeted.

Another intelligence official, T Mittal,is said to have followed the blue Indica car in which Ishrat and Javed were travelling to Gujarat. The most glaring revelation by the CBI is that of the weapons which were used in the encounter. According to the CBI,On July 14,after 1500 hours GL Singhal IPS officer went to SIB office as per instructions of DG Vanzara suspended IPS also accused in Sohrabuddin,Tulsiram and Sadiq Jamal Mehtar encounter cases and collected weapons in a bag. These weapons were meant to be planted on the alleged terrorists,to justify the intelligence input that they were fidayeen.

Two AK-47s and two revolvers were shown as recovered from the scene of crime by the police in 2004. The CBI chargesheet also mentions the names of Assad and Ovesh Owais who were engaged by Kumar. It is suspected that they were Kumars informers and their whereabouts are not known anymore.

Rajinder Kumar,according to the CBI probe,had met Ishrat and Javed along with P P Pandey,D G Vanzara and N K Amin,at Arham bungalow in Gandhinagar where they were confined before they were killed.

However,IB sources rubbished CBIs theory and said these allegations are based on complete hearsay. Sources said that CBI did not have evidence to prove that these officers were part of encounter. Even in the chargesheet the CBI has placed these officials under further investigation. Sources added it will be difficult for CBI to prove that the IB officers were part of the conspiracy as their role ended with the interrogation of Ishrat and others. The CBI summary report also does not place any of these officers at the crime scene,sources said.

CBI didnt go after real culprits: Javeds father

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Thiruvananthapuram: The father of Pranesh Kumar Pillai alias Javed Shaikh said the CBI was afraid of charge-sheeting the real forces behind the crime. Reacting to the submission of a chargesheet against police officials,M R Gopinanth Pillai said the CBI has steered clear of the big sharks. I am not fully happy about the development. I have anguish and protest over the bid to save the forces behind the fake encounter. Yet the chargesheet has given some relief considering my fight for justice since 2004, said Pillai,who lives in Alappuzha in Kerala.

The CBI might have come under pressure to avoid the real forces,Pillai said,without naming any political leader. Pranesh had been converted to Islam to marry Sajida Shaikh in Pune,where Pillai worked. Pillai sold his two-and-a-half acres of property to buy three flats for his grandsons in Pune and fight the case. He lives with his elder son Aravind,an auto driver. ENS