NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday registered a case of murder against 20 policemen in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case in Gujarat, adding to the pile of legal troubles of Narendra Modi government.
The fresh FIR was registered by the probe agency after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) gave its complaint to the CBI on December 15, saying that the encounter was staged.
The cops named accused in the case range from Ahmedabad police chief to constables. Besides murder, they have also been charged with destruction of evidence.
The Gujarat High Court had on December 1 directed the CBI to take over further probe in the case in which Ishrat (19), Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter in Ahmedabad. The directives came as the SIT, constituted by the HC, had concluded in November that the encounter was staged by police. A judicial inquiry report by metropolitan magistrate S P Tamang report had alleged that 21 police officers, including then crime branch chief JCP P P Pande, suspended DIG D G Vanzara, then ACP G L Singhal and ACP N K Amin were involved in the conspiracy regarding the encounter. Vanzara and Amin are also accused in the fake encounter killing of `gangster' Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the murder of his wife Kausar Bi. Both are in jail.
The HC had ordered CBI to probe the claims made by the state police after the encounter that Ishrat and three other persons were LeT terrorists on a mission to kill Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
CBI sources say they will question all the police officers involved in the case very soon after taking over the files from the Gujarat police. "A dedicated team would only look at Ishrat case now," said a CBI official. The agency, however, on Saturday refused to give details of the fresh FIR registered in the case.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ishrat-case-CBI-files-charges-against-20-Gujarat-cops/articleshow/11150242.cms
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