CBI to file charge sheet in Ishrat Jahan case tomorrow

CBI will file a charge sheet in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and is likely to name only those policemen who were at the scene of crime besides seeking more time in a bid to probe the conspiracy angle behind the incident.
While Special Director Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar may not be named as accused in the charge sheet as of now, his name may be mentioned in the final report with CBI claiming that Intelligence Bureau had interrogated Ishrat and three other before they were killed allegedly by Gujarat Crime Branch.
In its charge sheet which will be filed before the designated CBI court in Ahmedabad, CBI is likely to seek more time under 173 CrPC to continue probe the conspiracy angle behind the fake encounter.

Besides 19-year old Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter near Ahmedabad allegedly by a team of Crime Branch officials on June 15, 2004.
"We have promised the Gujarat High Court that we will file a charge sheet on July 4 in this case and we will maintain our time limit. We will file a preliminary charge sheet," CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had told reporters on the sidelines of an Interpol conference here.
CBI was entrusted with the investigations of the case by the Gujarat High Court and the agency managed to get one of the accused as an approver in the case, who named Kumar, a 1979 batch IPS officer posted as Joint Director of Intelligence Bureau in Ahmedabad at that time.

The sources declined that CBI required any sanction to prosecute Kumar and said his role was being further probed in the case and that he may be called for questioning again. The senior Intelligence Bureau officer will retire on July 31.