Ishrat Jahan case: Home Ministry refuses sanction to prosecute IB officials

The Union Home Ministry on Monday denied sanction to prosecute Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials involved in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The CBI had earlier sought sanction to prosecute four IB officials: Rajinder Kumar, P Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede in connection with the killing of Ishrat.

Meanwhile, Ishrat Jahan's sister reiterated that the family wants justice and punishment for the person who killed her.

"Our good days will come only when we get justice, not politics. I just want my sister's killer to be punished. Only politics is happening over all this and our life is getting spoiled because of this," said Ishrat Jahan's sister, Musshrat Jahan.

The Ishrat Jahan encounter case took place on June 15, 2004, and involved encounter killings of Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year old college student from Mumbai, and three men: Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar who were alleged links to terrorists, by officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch.

All four were shot dead by police officers who claimed that they were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time.