Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.
Gopinath Pillai, one of the petitioners in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, died in a road accident on Friday in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. “He passed away at 2 AM today,” family members told The Indian Express. Pillai was the father of Pranesh alias Javed Sheikh, who, along with Ishrat Jahan and two others, was gunned down by the Gujarat Police.
Meanwhile, a special CBI court in Ahmedabad adjourned the hearing after the probe agency sought time to respond to discharge pleas of accused former IPS DG Vanzara and former superintendent of police NK Amin in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
In February this year, a special CBI court had discharged former Gujarat DGP P P Pandey in the alleged fake encounter case in which he was an accused. Pandey was the seniormost officer accused in the alleged fake encounter of the 19-year-old girl from Mumbra. Other police officers accused in the case are G L Singhal, Tarun Barot and two policemen, who are out on bail.