Ishrat’s mother seeks CBI probe into killing

GANDHINAGAR - Shamima Kauser, mother of Ishrat Jahan who was killed in an alleged staged shootout by the Gujarat Police in 2004, said in the Gujarat High Court Wednesday that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should probe the incident.

Arguing the case before a division bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari, counsel for Kauser, I.H. Saiyed, said there was a question mark over the investigation of the case by the state police.

“The investigation by a state agency will lack credibility while the CBI being an independent agency had a high standing in terms of its credibility,” the counsel argued.

Mukul Sinha counsel for Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed alias Pranesh Pillai who was also killed in the same staged shootout, said there was a shadow over the police version of events that led to the killings.

Therefore, a CBI inquiry is needed, said Sinha.

Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan, Javed alias Pranesh Pillai and two others were killed in 2004 in a staged shootout near Ahmedabad by the a crime branch team headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara who is now in jail in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case.

In August 2009, an Ahmedabad metropolitan court held Ishrat, Javed and two others’ killings as staged shootout. The police case was that the four were part of a terror module aiming to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.