Cops protecting & shielding Ishrat case accused: Gujarat HC

Gujarat High Court today pulled up the state government saying some of its high-ranking police officers were "protecting, shielding and siding with" the policemen accused in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

"It has come on record in the present investigation that some of the higher state police officers are protecting, shielding and siding with the police officers who are accused in this case," observed the division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilashakumari today during the hearing of CBI plea to grant services of IPS officer Satish Verma further till June 30.

The court made this comment after going through the progress report of the investigation in the case carried out by the CBI and which was submitted, in a sealed cover to the court on Thursday.

The bench also questioned the intention of the state government for its objections to spare Verma's services as required by the CBI.

"We fail to understand why the state is opposing the request made by the CBI to spare the services of its IPS officer. Why is that the state government is objecting and obstructing in this? State government should strive to find out whoever the real culprits are and ensure that they get booked at the earliest," the bench observed.

After observing that further truth needs to be unearthed, the court directed the investigative agency to further submit its progress report by June 13. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled on June 14, till which time Verma's services for CBI investigation into this case has been extended.

On June 15, 2004, Isharat Jahan along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

At that time Gujarat police had claimed that all the four were terrorists, who entered the city to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.