CBI to take control of Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team constituted to probe Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case is set to take control of the investigation from Thursday.

The case was transferred to the crime branch after SIT had lodged a complaint declaring that the encounter was fake. The CBI so far has registered a case against 20 Gujarat police officers on grounds of murder and destruction of evidence.

The CBI earlier registered an FIR in the case with the CBI's Mumbai Special Crime Unit.

The CBI so far has registered a case against 20 Gujarat police officers on grounds of murder and destruction of evidence.

The Gujarat High Court had on December 1 directed the CBI to take over further probe in the case in which 19-year-old Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in Ahmedabad in 2004.

The directives came as the SIT constituted by the High Court had concluded last month that the encounter was staged by police.

A judicial inquiry report by metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang report had alleged that 2o police officers, including then crime branch chief JCP PP Pande, suspended DIG DG Vanzara, the then ACP GL Singhal and ACP NK Amin were involved in the conspiracy regarding the encounter.

Vanzara and Amin are also accused in the fake encounter killing of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and in the murder of his wife Kausar Bi and are at present in jail.

The High Court had ordered the CBI to also probe the claims made by the state police after the encounter that Ishrat and the other three persons were LeT terrorists on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

(With additional information from PTI)

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