Ishrat Jahan case: Six suspended cops summoned

A CBI court in Ahmedabad on Monday issued summons to six suspended police officers accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, for handing over the charge sheet filed by the investigating agency.

Judge H S Khutwad asked D G Vanzara, G L Singhal, J G Parmar, Tarun Barot, N K Amin and Anaju Chaudhary to remain present in the court on July 15.

The court is likely to hand over charge sheet to them on July 15.

One of the accused senior IPS officers P P Pandey, out of the seven named in the charge sheet, is absconding.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet on July 3 against the seven policemen in the encounter case of Ishrat and three others saying that it was fake and carried out in a joint operation by Gujarat Police and the Intelligence Bureau.

Vanzara and Amin are behind bars in the case. Though Barot and Parmar had got bail in this case as CBI had failed to file charge sheet against them in stipulated 90 days, they are in judicial custody as they are also accused in another encounter case of Sadik Jamal.

Singhal and Chaudhary are out on bail in the Ishrat case for the same reason that CBI did not file charge sheet within 90 days of their arrest.

Meanwhile CBI court today kept the matter of handing over charge sheet to Vanzara's lawyer for hearing on Tuesday.

Vanzara's lawyer, V D Gajjar, sought a certified copy of the charge sheet and other documents submitted to the court on the grounds that his client (Vanzara) was unwell and is currently in hospital.

The court was initially of the opinion that the charge sheet will be handed over to all the accused. However, it later asked the lawyer to file an application in this regard and Gajjar, thereby, filed an application seeking a certified copy of the charge sheet.

ACJM Khutwad has kept the hearing on the application on Tuesday.

Mumbai college girl Ishrat, 19, along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter on the outskirts of the city on June 15, 2004.

The four, according to the CBI charge sheet, were killed in a staged encounter on June 15, 2004, by Gujarat Police on the grounds that they were on a mission to eliminate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.