Amit Shah gets court notice in Ishrat Jahan encounter case

Notices also issued former Gujarat top cop K R Kaushik, CBI on application of Gopinath Pillai

Amit Shah, close confident of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was issued notice by special CBI court in Ahmedabad on Friday following an application to arraign him as accused  in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

Notices were also issued to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and former Ahmedabad police commissioner K R Kaushik. Special CBI judge Geetha Gopi hearing the case has scheduled further hearing on the application on March 26.

In June 2004 19-year-old Mumbai girl Ihsrat Jahan was allegedly murdered along with her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two others in a fake encounter by Gujarat police officials on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Nearly a dozen police officials are behind bars for their alleged involvement in the fake encounter.

Today’s application was filed by Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, seeking direction for CBI to arraign Amit Shah and K R Kaushik as accused in the fake encounter case.

Pillai in his application has alleged that both Shah and Kaushik were directly involved in the conspiracy, planning, directing and execution of the heinous crime of committing murder of his son Javed and three others.

The applicant has also claimed that there was enough evidence on record as per the chargesheet filed by the central agency against the Shah and Kaushik, but still they were not added as accused in the chargesheet.

Pillai has also demanded that non-bailable warrants be issued against the two and they be arrested.

The court after hearing the application has issued notices to Shah, Kaushik and CBI and directed them to file reply on the application before March 26 , when the hearing is scheduled.

Shah is presently BJP vice president and incharge of Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls. He is an accused in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. While Kaushik is presently working as security advisor, to Relaince Petroleum in Jamnagar.

Earlier, last month CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet naming Rajinder Kumar, who was then joint director of the Intelligence Bureau in Gujarat. Kumar has been charged with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), Section 302 (murder) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, besides various provisions of the Arms Act.

Others named in the chargesheet are serving IB officers T Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede, who have been booked for criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, kidnapping and wrongful concealment, besides under the Arms Act.

The first chargesheet filed had named IPS officer G L Singhal, suspended IPS officers P P Pandey, Tarun Barot and N K Amin, besides Vanzara. It also named retired DSP J G Parmar and commando Anaju Chaudhary.