AHMEDABAD: On the day when the special
CBI court was expected to deliver its verdict on the discharge plea filed by retired cops D G
Vanzara and N K Amin in the 2004
Ishrat Jahan encounter case, Ishrat's mother Shamima Kauser on Tuesday filed her objection against both discharge pleas. The court has scheduled hearing on these objections on Wednesday.
Ishrat Jahan along with three others were killed by an Ahmedabad crime branch team on June 15, 2004, on suspicion that they were terror operatives.
Former DIG Vanzara and then ACP Amin requested the CBI court for a discharge in Ishrat Jahan encounter case after the same court discharged former in-charge DGP P P Pandey in the case.
They have been seeking relief citing parity with Pandey as well as claiming that there is no evidence against them and the CBI had acted under a mandate to frame them.
Ishrat’s mother has opposed the applications on the ground that they cannot be discharged even before the supplementary chargesheet is placed before the court. A supplementary chargesheet with additional evidence was filed by CBI in February 2014, but the court has not taken its cognizance for over four years.
‘Vanzara, Amin had key role in encounter’
Shamima has claimed that the first chargesheet contains direct and relevant evidence including eye-witness accounts which show that Vanzara and Amin played key roles in criminal conspiracy to abduct, illegally detain and stage the encounter of four persons including her daughter. She has also asserted that the investigation by then DySP Parixita Gurjar was false and the chargesheet as well as Gurjar’s own statement establish that she was instructed by Vanzara and others to project the cold-blooded murder as an encounter. Citing witnesses mentioned in the chargesheet, Shamima has claimed that Vanzara was directly and actively involved as one of the masterminds of the encounter from June 12 to June 15, 2004. “Vanzara was involved in and aware of abduction and illegal confinement. He repeatedly visited and interrogated the four, and fabricated evidence by drafting an FIR in advance. He was in communication with political masters and received assent from them to eliminate Ishrat and others," states Shamima's objection application.
Opposing Amin’s application, Shamima claimed that chargesheet demonstrates that he was present at the site of the allegedly staged encounter. "Amin had participated in abduction of three persons who were killed. He visited Ishrat and Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai at Khodiyar Farms," the objection petition states. Shamima asserted that Amin’s case was different from that of Pandey’s because he was present at the place of encounter.
Shamima has also told the court that she will challenge Pandey’s discharge. Five months after Pandey was discharged from the case, CBI has not filed an appeal against the discharge order before the high court.
Vanzara and Amin were also accused and arrested in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case. Both of them were discharged by a CBI court in Mumbai in this case.
D G Vanzara and N K Amin
