Former IPS Officer DG Vanzara has alleged the CBI produced a 'politically motivated' chargesheet during its probe into the alleged fake encounter of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan.
The main accused in the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan in 2004, Vanzara has filed a discharge application before the special CBI court, alleging the investigation was done by the then central government (UPA) to falsely implicate the BJP. Vanzara claimed the police also interrogated then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, although it was not revealed in the records. reported The Indian Express.
Vanzara accused the UPA of 'plotting' to 'topple the democratically-elected (Gujarat) government' vis-a-vis the 'politically motivated' CBI chargesheet.
“The fact remains that, the then Chief Minister and the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also called by the IO (investigating officer) and was interrogated, however such material is not placed on record of this case… the report quotes Vanzara’s application.
“The entire material (chargesheet) is nothing but a bundle of papers which have been falsely created with cooked up story so as to falsely involve the applicant and with intention to falsely create possible involvement of the then chief minister (Narendra Modi),” the application stated.
The city crime branch officials had gunned down 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana in an alleged encounter on June 15, 2004 on the outskirts of the city.
Vanzara has sought to be exonerated from the charges against him on ground of parity with retired Director General of Police P P Pandey, another accused in the alleged fake encounter case, who was discharged by the CBI in February this year.
Pandey was the seniormost serving IPS officer when he was arrested in 2013 by the CBI in connection with the case.
Special CBI judge JK Pandya Pandya allowed Pandey's discharge application on the ground that there was no evidence against him related to the kidnapping and murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
The court said that no witnesses accused Pandey of the murder and kidnapping of the victims. It also said that the witnesses' evidence were contradictory as they gave different evidence to different investigating agencies.
The court also held that being a government servant, permission to prosecute Pandey was not taken by the investigating officer from the state before filing of the charge sheet against him, as per section 197 of the CrPC.
In the first charge sheet filed by the CBI in 2013, seven Gujarat police officers were named as accused, including IPS officers PP Pandey, DG Vanzara and GL Singhal, facing charges for kidnapping, murder and conspiracy.
(Agency inputs)
