The 2004 police encounter in which Mumbra college girl Ishrat Jahan and three others were gunned down in Ahmedabad was fake and executed in cold blood, a judicial probe has said.
On Monday, the panel appointed by the court to investigate the encounter submitted its report.
“We are happy that Ishrat’s innocence has been proved. This is the first step towards justice… We want to remove the stain that my daughter has been branded a terrorist,” said Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar whose petition seeking CBI investigation prompted the Gujarat High Court to appoint the panel this August.
On June 15, 2004, Ishrat and three others — Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani — were gunned down by the Gujarat police who claimed they were linked to Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and were planning to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Magistrate S.P. Tamang, conducting the probe, said the four victims had no links to Lashkar.
The report said the encounter was “planned” and executed “mercilessly” — the victims were shot from a “close range”.
The judicial probe has stated that the senior police officers, including then city police commissioner K.R. Kaushik, planned the encounter to impress Modi, get promotion and secure their positions. (With PTI inputs)