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.
Take By: http://www.siasat.com/english/news/untold-story-ishrath-murder
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న్యూఢిల్లీ, నవంబర్ 21:కేంద్ర హోంమంత్రి చిదంబరంను లక్ష్యంగా చేసుకొని పార్లమెంటు శీతాకాల సమావేశాల్లో ముప్పేటదాడి చేయాలని బీజేపీ నేతృత్వంలోని ఎన్డీయే నిర్ణయించింది. 2జీ కుంభకోణంలో చిదంబరాన్ని బాధ్యుణ్ని చేస్తూ, ఆయన రాజీనామాకు పట్టుబట్టనుంది. సభలో చిదంబరాన్ని మాట్లాడనివ్వవద్దని, ఆయనను బాయ్కాట్ చేయాలని నిశ్చయించింది. 2జీ కుంభకోణం జరిగినప్పుడు ఆర్థికమంవూతిగా ఉన్న చిదంబరం రాజీనామా చేయాల్సిందేనని, ఆయన రాజీనామాను ప్రధానమంత్రి ఆమోదించేవరకు ఆయనను బాయ్కాట్ చేస్తామని ఎన్డీయే స్పష్టం చేసింది. మంగళవారం నుంచి ప్రారంభం కానున్న శీతాకాల సమావేశాల నేపథ్యంలో బీజేపీ సీనియర్ నేత ఎల్కే అద్వానీ నివాసంలో ఎన్డీయే భాగస్వామ్య పార్టీల నేతల భేటీ జరిగింది. శరద్యాదవ్, మనోహర్ జోషి, అనంత్ గీతే, నరేశ్ గుజ్రాల్, శివానంద తీవారి, బీజేపీ అధ్యక్షుడు నితిన్ గడ్కరీ, లోక్సభ, రాజ్యసభ ప్రతిపక్ష నాయకులు సుష్మాస్వరాజ్, అరుణ్ జైట్లీ తదితర నేతలు పాల్గొన్న ఈ సమావేశంలో ఈ మేరకు నిర్ణయం తీసుకున్నారు. 2జీ కుంభకోణంలో చిదంబరాన్ని నిందితుడిగా చేర్చాలన్న పిటిషన్పై సుప్రీంకోర్టు తన తీర్పు వాయిదా వేసిన నేపథ్యంలో ఇదే అంశాన్ని ప్రధాన అస్త్రంగా చేసుకోవాలని నిర్ణయించింది. ‘2జీ కుంభకోణంలో రాజాకు సమానంగా చిదంబరానికి బాధ్యత ఉంది. ప్రధాని రాజా రాజీనామాను ఆమోదించారు. కానీ చిదంబరం రాజీనామాను మాత్రం కోరడం లేదు. 
లక్నో, నవంబర్ 21:ఉత్తరవూపదేశ్ ముఖ్యమంత్రి, బీఎస్పీ అధినేత్రి మాయావతి సోమవారం ప్రతిపక్షాలను ఊహించనిరీతిలో దెబ్బకొట్టారు. అవిశ్వాస తీర్మానంతో ప్రభుత్వాన్ని ఇరుకునపెట్టాలని విపక్షాలు భావించగా, రాష్ట్రాన్ని నాలుగు భాగాలుగా విడదీయాలన్న తీర్మానాన్ని ఆమె సోమవారం శాసనసభలో మూజువాణి ఓటుతో ఆమోదింపజేసుకున్నారు. అనంతరం స్పీకర్ సభను నిరవధికంగా వాయిదావేయడంతో ప్రతిపక్షాలు బిత్తరపోయి దిక్కుతోచని స్థితిలో పడ్డాయి. ముఖ్యమంత్రి చర్య దారుణమని, రాజ్యాంగ నియమాలను అనుసరించలేదని ములాయం సహా కాంగ్రెస్, బీజేపీ నేతలు తప్పుబట్టారు. ఏఐసీసీ అధికార ప్రతినిధి మనీష్ తివారీ, బీజేపీ నేత ముఖ్తార్ అబ్వాస్ నక్వీ తీవ్రంగా ప్రతిస్పందించారు.
హైదరాబాద్, నవంబర్ 20 (): టీఆర్ఎస్ అధినేత, పార్లమెంట్ సభ్యుడు కల్వకుంట్ల చంద్రశేఖర్రావు సోమవారం ఢిల్లీకి వెళ్తున్నారు. మంగళవారం నుంచి జరిగే పార్లమెంట్ సమావేశాల్లో ఆయన పాల్గొననున్నారు. ఈ సమయంలో తెలంగాణకు అనుకూలంగా ఉన్న జాతీయ పార్టీలు, వివిధ రాష్ట్రాలకు చెందిన ప్రాంతీయ పార్టీల నేతలతో సమావేశమవనున్నారని సమాచారం. తెలంగాణ ప్రత్యేక రాష్ట్ర ఏర్పాటు విషయంలో మద్దతు తెలిపే పార్టీలతో కలిసి పార్లమెంటులో ఎలాంటి వ్యూహం అనుసరించాలన్న విషయంపై ఇందులో చర్చిస్తారని తెలిసింది. ప్రత్యేక రాష్ట్రం కోసం టీ ఉద్యోగులు 42 రోజులు సకల జనుల సమ్మె చేసినా.. కేంద్రం పూర్తి స్థాయిలో స్పందించలేదు. దీనికి తోడు తెలంగాణ వాదులు, టీ ఉద్యోగులపై రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వం అక్రమ కేసులు బనాయించింది. తెలంగాణకు అనుకూలంగా 30కి పైగా పార్టీలు కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వానికి లేఖలు ఇచ్చినా.. ఇప్పటి వరకు కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీ తన వైఖరిని వెల్లడించలేదు. కానీ ఇటీవల సొంత పార్టీ నేతలతో తెలంగాణ విషయంపై చర్చలు జరిపింది. ప్రస్త్తుతం మరికొన్ని పక్షాలతో కూడా చర్చల ప్రక్రియ కొనసాగిస్తోంది. కాగా, ప్రత్యేక రాష్ట్ర ప్రకటన చేయకుండా తెలంగాణ విషయంలో కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీ చర్చల పేరుతో కాలయాపన చేస్తోందని తెలంగాణవాదులు మండి పడుతున్నారు. 
న్యూఢిల్లీ, నవంబర్ 20 ():మంగళవారం నుంచి ప్రారంభం కానున్న పార్లమెంటు శీతాకాల సమావేశాల్లో తెలంగాణ విషయంలో కేంద్రం నుంచి ఒక ప్రకటన రానున్నదా? రాష్ట్ర విభజనపై విధానపరమైన నిర్ణయం తీసుకోవడంలో మీనమేషాలు లెక్కపెడుతున్న యూపీఏ ప్రభుత్వం.. ఈ సమావేశాలను సజావుగా సాగించుకునేందుకు మధ్యేమార్గాన్ని అనుసరించనున్నదా? పూటకో ప్రకటన చేస్తూ రాష్ట్రంలో అనిశ్చిత వాతావరణాన్ని కొనసాగిస్తోందని కేంద్రంపై మండిపడుతున్న విపక్షాలను శాంతపర్చేందుకు.. విపక్షాలతో గొంతు కలుపుతున్న అధికార పక్ష సభ్యుల ఆగ్రహాన్ని తాత్కాలికంగా సద్దుమణిగేలా చేసేందుకు పాచిక వేయనున్నదా? అవుననే అంటున్నాయి ఢిల్లీలోని ఏఐసీసీ వర్గాలు! తెలంగాణ అంశంపై రాబోయే పార్లమెంటు సమావేశాల్లో పెద్ద ఎత్తున రగడ జరగనున్న విషయాన్ని గుర్తించిన కేంద్రం.. ఈ అడ్డంకిని అధిగమించేందు కు ఒక ప్రకటన చేయనున్నదని తెలుస్తున్నది. ఇది తెలంగాణపై నిర్ణయాత్మక అడుగు కాకపోయినా.. తక్షణ గండం గట్టెక్కేందుకే ఉద్దేశించారని చెబుతున్నారు. తెలంగాణ విషయం లో ప్రకటనలకు మాత్రమే పరిమితమవుతున్న హోం మం త్రి చిదంబరం తాజా ప్రకటన చేయనున్నారని తెలుస్తున్నది.
