CBI ascertaining nationality of duo killed along with Ishrat

The investigative agency has so far not been able to reach any conclusive point on the identities of Johar and Rana

The CBI is ascertaining the nationality of suspected militants Amjad Ali Rana and Zishan Johar who were killed in an encounter along with Ishrat Jahan as it inches towards filing a supplementary charge sheet in the case.

"We want to know the nationality of the two individuals who were killed in the encounter. That is why we have issued advertisement in newspapers so that anyone having knowledge about them can come up and identify them," CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said here today.

CBI, which is probing the case, has been able to get detailed information about Ishrat and Javed as it included the statements of their relatives and people known to them in the charge sheet filed on July 3.

In the statements given by the witnesses, Rana has been identified with different names by different individuals.

The agency has so far not been able to reach any conclusive point on the identities of Johar and Rana. In its charge sheet, it has neither given any details about the antecedents of the duo nor the motive of their presence in Gujarat.

CBI is likely to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case once it is able to unravel the conspiracy which led to the encounter.

The agency had published an advertisement in Urdu papers of Jammu and Kashmir with photographs of Johar and Rana who were killed in 2004 in Ahmedabad along with Ishrat and Javed in an operation conducted by Gujarat Crime Branch which has been alleged to be fake.

"The two persons in pictures above are said to have been killed in an encounter with police in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on June 15, 2004. CBI is investigating the case. If anyone provides the real identity of these persons or substantial information about them, he will be given a cash reward of Rs five lakh," the advertisement says.