Ishrat Jahan case

 

Ishrat (19), Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday March 01,2016 agreed to hear a plea seeking quashing of criminal prosecution, suspension and other actions taken against Gujarat cops in the 2004 alleged fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan, in view of the recent testimony of jailed Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley

Notwithstanding the political slug fest over the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan, its trial is stuck for last two years in CBI court for want of sanction from the Centre to prosecute IB officers who have been charge-sheeted by the probe agency.

The CBI had filed two charge sheets in the encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.

The first charge sheet filed in July 2013 was against seven police officers, including IPS officers P P Pandey, D G Vanzara and G L Singhal. In the charge sheet, the CBI had said that the encounter was fake and a joint operation between Gujarat Police and the Intelligence Bureau

 

In the second charge sheet filed in February 2014, the CBI had charged Special Director of IB, Rajendra Kumar, with murder (IPC section 302), criminal conspiracy (120 {B}), kidnapping in order to murder (364), wrongful confinement (346, 364 and 368) and under sections 3, 25 (A) and 29 of the Arms Act.

Three other IB officers who were part of Kumar’s team – P Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhed – were also charged in the case.

Both the charge sheets were filed in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate H S Kuthwad.
However, the CBI had not obtained permission of the central Law Ministry to prosecute the four IB officers named in the second charge sheet.
“As the CBI had not obtained permission of the Union government, the court had not taken cognisance of the charge sheet against the IB officers,” said Vinod Gajjar, advocate for accused D G Vanzara and others.