Ishrat: CBI granted time by Court on plea to make Shah accused

Ahmedabad: A local court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday granted 25 days time to the CBI to reply to a plea seeking to make former Gujarat minister Amit Shah and ex-DGP KR Kaushik accused in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The plea was moved before special CBI Judge Geeta Gopi by Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh who was killed in the fake encounter. [caption id=“attachment_1233567” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amit Shah in this file photo. AP[/caption] Appearing before the court, the CBI advocate sought 30 days time to consider the plea. Opposing this, victim’s advocate Shamshad Pathan told the court, “When CBI has all the evidence against those accused persons, why the probe agency needs time.” “This is a crucial time when the elections are being conducted and their (Shah and Kaushik) free movements can cause harm to the investigation,” advocate Pathan said further. Reacting, CBI court told the victim’s lawyer to refrain himself from addressing those persons as accused when prosecution has not yet decided on the plea. Special CBI judge Geeta Gopi also said law and order problem can prevail if hearing on this issue is conducted in this crucial time. Senior Advocate SV Raju appeared for Amit shah, while advocate JR Dave appeared for cop KR Kaushik. After hearing the prosecution and the applicant, the CBI court granted time till 21 April. Earlier on 14 March, the court issued the notice to Shah, Kaushik and the probe agency CBI in connection with the case. The application filed under section 319 and 193 of CRPC demanded arraignment of KR Kaushik and Amit Shah as accused and hold a trial against them for the criminal conspiracy, illegal confinement and murder. CRPC sections 319 and 193 stand for the legal provision to make accused if in the course of court trial substantial evidences appeared against them. Ishrat was killed along with her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, in Gujarat and two others, believed to be Pakistani nationals on 15 June, 2004 by state police officers. The applicant while putting forth the grounds to make the two accused in the case, said, “IPS office Girish Singhal, and other police officers Bharat Patel and DH Goswami in their statements have alleged the role of Amit Shah in the encounter case.” On 5 February this year, ten years after the encounter, CBI had filed the supplementary charge sheet and named former IB director Rajinder Kumar as the main conspirator in the case. While other IB officers Tushar Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Vankhede has also been named as accused with charges of criminal conspiracy and illegal confinement of victims. In its first charge sheet filed in the case on 3 July last year, CBI had named the four IB officers but not identified them as suspects, while terming the encounter as fake and a joint operation by IB and Gujarat Police. In the first charge sheet, the CBI had named IPS officers DG Vanzara, PP Pandey, Girish Singhal, besides Tarun Barot, NK Amin, JG Parmar and Anju Chaudhary, as accused. PTI