Ishrat Jahan case probe team submits interim report

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged Ishrat Jahan fake gunfight Friday submitted its interim report. It also sought more time to complete the investigation.

The SIT is reported to have admitted that it had failed to secure details of telephone and mobile records of the key police officers as well as victims for the period between June 1 and 20, 2004 because the case was old and no records were available.

Four people including Ishrat Jahan were gunned down by police June 16, 2004 on the outskirts of Ahmedabad and termed Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives out on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The SIT, under the Additional Director General of Police Pramod Kumar, was formed by the high court August 13 last year for a fresh investigation into the deaths of the four. The order was issued on a petition filed by Ishrat’s mother, Shamima Kausar, who has now filed yet another petition demanding that the investigation be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The SIT was asked to submit its final report by Nov 30 last year, but said it could not complete its task within the given period because of new and additional factors and sought more time.

The SIT said that it has taken possession of all relevant papers pertaining to the incident but was yet to complete the detailed scrutiny. Though the statement of 63 people had been recorded but no one could such much light on the old case, the SIT noted.

Advertisements in newspapers inviting people to share information pertaining to the gunfight had not yielded a single response, the report noted.