Ishrat Jahan case: CBI failed to examine 2 passive agents

The CBI, which has finalised its draft supplementary charge sheet, failed to examine two alleged passive agents of the Ahmedabad crime branch and the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) who had assisted them in intercepting Jishan Johar and Amjad Ali, two of the deceased in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The CBI, which has finalised its draft supplementary charge sheet, failed to examine two alleged passive agents of the Ahmedabad crime branch and the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) who had assisted them in intercepting Jishan Johar and Amjad Ali, two of the deceased in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The passive agents — named in the CBI’s case charge sheet in July and also referred to as ‘C1’ and ‘C2’ in witness testimonies — were alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives and were supposed to serve as logistic providers for Johar and Ali, according to a CBI source.

According to the charge sheet, ‘C1’ and ‘C2’ had assisted a team of CB and SIB officials in intercepting Johar in April and Ali in May 2004 on their arrival in Ahmedabad.

“We could not examine either C1 or C2. Our probe found that they were utilised to trap Johar and Ali by the accused officials,” said a CBI source. The agents would not be named as accused in the charge sheet, though their statements could have served as witness testimonies. Johar and Ali were allegedly Pakistani LeT operatives on a terror mission, according to the Gujarat police.