The special investigation team constituted to probe the alleged encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others in 2004, on Friday submitted a summary of the work done by them to the Gujarat high court. A division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari had ordered the SIT to submit the summary of the investigation on Thursday, while hearing a bunch of petitions demanding CBI probe into the encounter.
The SIT, in its summary report, has said that probe in the case could not be completed in the time period decided by the high court as during the course of investigation its scope had increased. It said that it has requested for extension from the high court, which was pending. The three-member SIT was formed by Justice K.S. Jahveri of the Gujarat high court in August 2009. It was headed by additional director general of police Pramod Kumar, while the other two members of the committee were Inspector General Mohan Jha and deputy inspector General J.K. Bhatt. Giving details of the investigation, the SIT has stated that they have been unable to get the telephone call records of the police officers involved in the encounter as the telecom companies do not have records dating back to 2004.
The investigating team further said that since its formation in 2009, it has recorded statements of 35 persons including cops involved in the encounter and parents of the deceased.
Statements of Ishrat’s mother Shamima and Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, have been video recorded in presence of their lawyers, the SIT report said, adding that these were being verified. The process of getting wireless messages from control room and CID between June 1, 2004 to June 16, 2004, was on, it said.
The SIT said it has also tracked the movement of the car used by Ishrat and three others to come from Pune in Maharashtra to Ahmedabad.
Statements of 63 persons, which include those working at petrol pumps and toll tax counters between Pune and Ahmedabad, have been recorded, the investigating team said. A summary of the SIT’s investigation was also handed over to the parents of Ishrat and Sheikh, who are seeking CBI inquiry into the killing of their children.
The Gujarat police had claimed that Ishrat and the three others were LeT operatives on a mission to kill CM Narendra Modi and carry out attacks on various parts of India. —PTI