Stop 'interference' of PMO in Ishrat case: PIL in Gujarat HC

AHMEDABAD: A Public Interest Litigation filed in the Gujarat High Court has demanded that `interference' of Prime Minister's Office in the probe into the Ishrat Jehan encounter killing be stopped.

A division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala heard the matter today before adjourning it to August 16 for further hearing.

Kantilal Chavda, a local resident, has alleged in the PIL that the PMO, through Union Ministry of Home Affairs and CBI, is interfering in the investigation.

"Investigations have revealed, as reflected in the charge-sheet, that the then Director, Intelligence Bureau, was the main conspirator...despite this, he has not been arraigned as accused," the petition says.

"It appears that the intention of the central government is to play a political game rather than unearth the truth", it charged.

The charge-sheet filed by CBI claims the inputs about four `terrorists' entering Ahmedabad in 2004 to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi was provided by Rajinder Kumar, and weapons found on the dead bodies of the four were also supplied by him.

Ishrat, a Mumbai-based student, her friend Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, and their associates Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were gunned down by Crime Branch sleuths on June 15, 2004 near here. According to CBI, the encounter, a joint operation by Gujarat Police and Intelligence Bureau, was fake.