Untold story of ISHRATH MURDER ?

New Delhi, Ahmedabad, November 22 :Truth out despite govt's bid to derail Ishrat probe Though it got many opportunities to find the truth, the state police failed to find out whether the encounter in whichIshrat Jahan and three others were killed was fake or not. It needed an SIT appointed by the Gujarat high court to uncover the truth about the criminal role of the Ahmedabad crime branch.

In fact, the state police tried every possible means to cover up the truth. The cover-up started right from the time when the first FIR was lodged by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) against Ishrat and three others after the encounter on June 15, 2004.

The investigation of the case was closed by the DCB after it concluded that no other accused could be traced after the encounter in which the four people were killed.During that period, investigating officers continued to change periodically and none of them apparently tried to find out whether the encounter was genuine or not.

The DCB had claimed at the time that Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh and two Pakistani nationals were on a mission to eliminate chief minister Narendra Modi. They had entered Gujarat in a blue Tata Indica car and were intercepted by the police near Kotarpur Water Works where they were killed in an exchange of gunfire, the DCB had said.

Another opportunity to uncover the truth came when sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Gaurav Prajapati started the mandatory enquiry in the case as the four people had been killed in an encounter.

The SDM conducted the enquiry for a couple of years but stopped after he was transferred. The state police got another opportunity in 2009 when Justice KS Jhaveri of the Gujarat high court constituted a special investigation team (SIT) under the chairmanship of senior IPS officer Pramod Kumar and two other IPS officers, Mohan Jha and JK Bhatt. However, the SIT was unable to find out the truth.

After this, the Supreme Court handed over the case to the Gujarat high court and asked a two-judge bench to look into the mater afresh. The bench then dissolved the first SIT and constituted another one to investigate the case.

Interestingly, all of a sudden the state government showed great interest in finding out the truth about the controversial encounter. It requested the high court to hand over the inquiry to the Special Task Force (STF) headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice MB Shah.

The government made the proposal even after the SIT under the chairmanship of Karnal Singh of Delhi police had already been constituted. However, the high court did not entertain the government's proposal after Mukul Sinha and IH Saiyad, counsels for Gopinath Pillai and Shamima Kausar, respectively, raised strong objections.

Even on Monday, when the high court-appointed SIT stated in its report that the encounter was not genuine, the counsels of the state government submitted that the state police should be given the task to investigate the case further.

Gujarat police staged encounters to protect ‘ Modi from terrorists’

D. P. Bhattacharya/ Gandhinagar

THE LATEST revelation by the Special Investigation Team ( SIT), formed by the Gujarat High Court to investigate the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, has put the spotlight back on the charges of systematic extra- judicial killings by the state police between 2003 and 2006 to bolster the image of chief minister Narendra Modi.

Over 20 persons were killed during this period. The police’s “ reason” for gunning down most of these people, including Ishrat Jahan and Pranesh Pillai, was that they were terrorists visiting Gujarat to assassinate Modi.

The trend started with Samirkhan Pathan, who was killed in custody, with the cops alleging that he was trying to attack them on November 22, 2002. Sadik Jamal Mehtar was killed on January 13, 2003, near Galaxy theatre in Ahmedabad. Allegedly, the scooter mechanic from Bhavnagar had come to murder Modi as part of an LeT conspiracy.

Then it was the turn of Ishrat Jahan, Javed Sheikh ( Pranesh Pillai), Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Akbarali Rana, who were killed in the Naroda area of Ahmedabad around 4 am on June 15, 2004.

They had allegedly conspired to murder Modi. It was followed by the encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in the morning of November 26, 2005, near the Narol crossing in Ahmedabad, since he too had allegedly come to bump off the chief minister. His wife Kausarbi was killed three days later and his accomplice, Tulsiram Prajapati, fell to police bullets on December 28, 2006.

On January 7, 2006, the Gandhinagar police gunned down Rahim Qasim Sumra, the notorious gangster from Saurashtra, in a late- night encounter. No policeman was hurt in the exchange of fire by Sumra and two of his accomplices, who allegedly fled from the spot. Then four unknown Muslim youth were killed on March 17, 2006, at Vatva ( Ahmedabad) as they were allegedly part of a larger terrorist conspiracy to kill Modi.

Gujarat anti- terrorist squad ( ATS) chief D. G. Vanzara — of the Sohrabuddin killing notoriety — had ordered most of these killings. But Vanzara did not work in isolation and had a team of trigger- happy cops to give him company.

At least eight persons were killed between October 2002 and June 2004 in four encounters in Ahmedabad alone for the same reason. It is now alleged by rights activists that the then joint director of IB Rajendra Kumar used to tip off Vanzara for such encounters.

“ As the chief of state intelligence during that period, all the IB inputs I have seen were against Muslims, with nothing against Hindu groups who were wreaking havoc in the state,” Gujarat’s former DGP R. B. Shreekumar said.

Gujarat’s former top cops maintain that Rajendra Kumar, during his posting at Chandigarh, had come close to Modi, who was then a BJP general contact in charge of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

“ There has obviously been an unholy nexus between the state police and the Central IB in carrying out these fakencounters… and the role of officials like Rajendra Kumar needs to be thoroughly examined,” noted activist Teesta Setalvad said.

BLOODSTAINS ON THE KHAKI:

D. G. Vanzara: Vanzara was deputy commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, at the time of Ishrat Jahan encounter. He was known as a ‘ supercop’ and encounter specialist in the Gujarat police. A triggerhappy Vanzara is presently in jail for the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi. He was arrested by the Gujarat CID in April, 2007. The IPS officer was known to be close to Modi N. K. Amin: According to an FIR lodged by the police after the encounter, then ACP Narendra Amin was waiting for the car carrying Ishrat and others at the Naroda Chowkadi. He followed the vehicle. When it took a turn towards airport road from Naroda- Himmatnagar crossing, he asked ACP Singhal to intercept the car.

He first ordered the commandos to fire at the tyre of the car and then at the ‘ terrorists’ P. P. Pandey: Then Joint Commissioner of Police, P. P. Pandey received a tip- off through his ‘ private sources’ at 11 p. m. on June 14, 2004, that a blue Indica carrying the ‘ terrorists’ — Ishrat Jahan, Javed Sheikh and two others — had left Mumbai with arms and ammunition to assassinate CM Narendra Modi. It was on Pandey's information that six police teams were sent to Narol Cross Road, CTM crossroads, Naroda, S. T. workshop, Naroda- Himmatnagar railway crossing, Indira Bridge and Vishala circle to intercept the car G. L. Singhal: G. L. Singhal, used to be an assistant commissioner of police with the state terror squad, which is now known as the anti- terrorist squad.

Singhal still heads the ATS. While Justice Tamang report names 21 police officials in connection with the murder of Ishrat Jahan and four others, it has refrained from detailing the role of any of the officials. The list of the accused also includes lower rung officials like Tarun Barot, J. G. Parmar, D. H. Goswami, B. A. Chavda, K. M. Vaghela, R. I. Patel, K. S. Desai and C. J. Goswami

During the hearing of the case earlier this year, the state government had to face the high court's wrath over the transfer of top police officers including GL Singhal, PP Pandey and Tarun Barot. These police officers were suspected of influencing the witnesses of the case. When the state government delayed in transferring these policemen, the high court initiated contempt proceedings against it.

Satish Verma, joint commissioner of police (traffic) and member of the SIT, also had to face harassment when he seized some vital documents related to the case from the Forensic Science Laboratory. After that, a petition was filed against Verma by an official of the FSL.

SETBACKS TO CM MODI :

BEST BAKERY CASE:

As many as 14 people were killed at Best Bakery by a mob in the 2002 Godhra riots. A Vadodara fast track court acquitted all 21 accused on June 27, 2003, after key witness and complainant Zahira Sheikh ( in pic) turned hostile. The Supreme Court, however, ordered retrial in a court outside Gujarat on August 1, 2003, on a special petition by the NHRC. Zahira, in an affidavit before the apex court, said she was made to retract her statement under duress.

BILKIS BANO CASE:

She was gang- raped in the Radhikpur village of Dahod district and 14 members of her family were killed in the Godhra riots. After a local court dismissed the case against her assailants, Bilkis Bano approached the NHRC and petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a retrial. The apex court granted the motion, directing the CBI to take over the investigation and transferred the case out of Gujarat. In January 2008, 11 men were sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murders.

AMIT SHAH ARREST:

The Gujarat minister of state for home, was a close confidante of chief minister Narendra Modi. He was arrested in July this year, in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, after the Supreme Court transferred the probe into the case to the CBI and the trial to a court outside Gujarat.

HAREN PANDYA CASE:

All 12 accused in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya were acquitted by the Gujarat High Court. The case was probed by the CBI and it was claimed that the accused murdered Pandya on March 26, 2003, to avenge the killings of Muslims in the Godhra riots.

SETTING UP OF THE SIT:

The Supreme Court appointed the SIT to probe into at least nine Godhra- riots related cases on March 26, 2008, after complaints of complicity of the state police in various cases.

Incidentally, it was Verma who had concluded in the first first phase of the inquiry itself that the encounter did not appear to be genuine.

Gujarat police staged encounters to protect ‘ Modi from terrorists’

D. P. Bhattacharya/ Gandhinagar

THE LATEST revelation by the Special Investigation Team ( SIT), formed by the Gujarat High Court to investigate the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, has put the spotlight back on the charges of systematic extra- judicial killings by the state police between 2003 and 2006 to bolster the image of chief minister Narendra Modi.

Over 20 persons were killed during this period. The police’s “ reason” for gunning down most of these people, including Ishrat Jahan and Pranesh Pillai, was that they were terrorists visiting Gujarat to assassinate Modi.

The trend started with Samirkhan Pathan, who was killed in custody, with the cops alleging that he was trying to attack them on November 22, 2002. Sadik Jamal Mehtar was killed on January 13, 2003, near Galaxy theatre in Ahmedabad. Allegedly, the scooter mechanic from Bhavnagar had come to murder Modi as part of an LeT conspiracy.

Then it was the turn of Ishrat Jahan, Javed Sheikh ( Pranesh Pillai), Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Akbarali Rana, who were killed in the Naroda area of Ahmedabad around 4 am on June 15, 2004.

They had allegedly conspired to murder Modi. It was followed by the encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in the morning of November 26, 2005, near the Narol crossing in Ahmedabad, since he too had allegedly come to bump off the chief minister. His wife Kausarbi was killed three days later and his accomplice, Tulsiram Prajapati, fell to police bullets on December 28, 2006.

On January 7, 2006, the Gandhinagar police gunned down Rahim Qasim Sumra, the notorious gangster from Saurashtra, in a late- night encounter. No policeman was hurt in the exchange of fire by Sumra and two of his accomplices, who allegedly fled from the spot. Then four unknown Muslim youth were killed on March 17, 2006, at Vatva ( Ahmedabad) as they were allegedly part of a larger terrorist conspiracy to kill Modi.

Gujarat anti- terrorist squad ( ATS) chief D. G. Vanzara — of the Sohrabuddin killing notoriety — had ordered most of these killings. But Vanzara did not work in isolation and had a team of trigger- happy cops to give him company.

At least eight persons were killed between October 2002 and June 2004 in four encounters in Ahmedabad alone for the same reason. It is now alleged by rights activists that the then joint director of IB Rajendra Kumar used to tip off Vanzara for such encounters.

“ As the chief of state intelligence during that period, all the IB inputs I have seen were against Muslims, with nothing against Hindu groups who were wreaking havoc in the state,” Gujarat’s former DGP R. B. Shreekumar said.

Gujarat’s former top cops maintain that Rajendra Kumar, during his posting at Chandigarh, had come close to Modi, who was then a BJP general contact in charge of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

“ There has obviously been an unholy nexus between the state police and the Central IB in carrying out these fakencounters… and the role of officials like Rajendra Kumar needs to be thoroughly examined,” noted activist Teesta Setalvad said.

HUNGER FOR MEDALS CONSUMED 4 LIVES

ISHRAT JAHAN

She was a second year Bachelor of Science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. She was the second of seven siblings.

Her lower middle class family, hailing from Bihar, lived in the Rashid compound in the Muslim- dominated area of Mumbra in Thane district in Mumbai.

Ishrat’s father Mohammad Shamim Raza was the proprietor of a Mumbai- based construction company called Asian Constructions while her mother, Shamima, worked with a medicine packaging company in Vashi.

In 2002, Shamim died and Shamima had to give up her job to raise her seven children.

With the eldest, Zeenat, married, it came upon Ishrat to take care of her family. She taught tuition to children from the Bombay Municipal Corporation school and did embroidery work to support her family.

JAVED GHULAM SHEIKH ALIAS PRANESH KUMAR PILLAI :

Ishrat’s family first met Javed in 2004, when she did not have any work, through a neighbour — Rashid. Javed had worked for Ishrat’s father’s construction company. He struggled in Mumbai for some time before moving to Pune. He came from an upper class home in Alleppey, Kerala. Originally known as Pranesh Pillai, he converted to Islam in mid- 1990s. After shifting to Pune, he told his family that ran a small travel agency but his family couldn’t confirm what his real business was. According to Ishrat’s family, he travelled to the Middle East several times. Ishrat went to Pune with him and used to send money back home. Ishrat’s family says that she used to manage Javed’s perfume shop in Pune

JISHAN JOHAR AND AMJAD ALI RANA:

Very little is known about the two other men— Jishan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana— shot dead by the Ahmedabad crime branch with Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh.

Nobody came to claim their bodies and they were given a quiet burial by the state. Metropolitan magistrate S. P. Tamang’s inquiry report asserted that they, alleged to be Lashkar operatives from Pakistan, were Indians, but it gave no evidence to substantiate the claim.

Amjad Ali Akbar Ali Rana, 25, also went by the names of Babbar, Salim alias Rajkumar while 17- year- old Jishan was called Abdul Ghani, alias Salim, according to the Centre’s affidavit before the Gujarat High Court. Their ages were determined by medical investigations.

Tamang observed that the police provided no evidence to prove their identity, and “ perhaps the crime branch officials had named them”. A photograph was recovered from Rana’s pocket with ‘ Salim’ written in English behind it. Johar’s identity card with a Pakistan address was recovered from his dead body.

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