SIT lodges, CBI to file FIR in Ishrat case

The special investigation team (SIT) that probed the fake encounter death of Ishrat Jahan and three others on Thursday lodged with the CBI a complaint on the basis of which the agency will register a fresh FIR on Friday. The SIT had told the court in November the encounter had been staged.

A Gujarat high court division bench consisting of justice Jayant Patel and justice Abhilasha Kumari ordered a fresh FIR relating to those involved in the encounter.

"We have given a 22-page complaint on lodging a new FIR in the case. The complaint does not name any policeman because names will be added during the process of investigation," a member of the three-member SIT told HT.

He said apart from adding new names, the policemen whose names were mentioned in the original FIR filed by the Ahmedabad police after the encounter would be retained.

The Ahmedabad police killed Ishrat and three others on June 15, 2004, and the police claimed the four were affiliated with Pakistan-based Laskar-e-Taiba and were tasked with the mission to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

The earlier FIR, lodged by the crime branch of the Ahmedabad police after the encounter, mentioned DG Vanjara, suspended and now in jail as a prime accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case of 2005; Girish Singhal, superintendent of police of Kheda district; deputy superintendent of police Tarun Barot; and NK Amin (also suspended and is in jail as another accused in the Sohrabuddin case), among others.

The bench had remarked the case was "exceptional and had national ramification". The court had also held the Gujarat police could not be trusted to carry out an impartial probe in the case.

Mahesh Langa