Ishrat Jahan case: CBI court sends Gujarat IPS Vanzara sent to judicial custody

Ahmedabad: Special CBI court on Monday sent suspended IPS officer D G Vanzara to judicial custody till June 24 in the 2004 fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others. CBI today produced Vanzara before the special CBI court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) S H Khutwad, who had remanded him to the police custody till today. [caption id=“attachment_859309” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ishrat Jahan. Ibnlive[/caption] CBI, not seeking his further remand, urged the court to send him to judicial custody and also made a request to transfer Vanzara to Mumbai court for the trial of Sohrabuddin encounter case. “We have concluded our investigation as far as this accused is concerned and now as he is required to be present before the special CBI court for the trial of Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case, this court may grant his transfer under the provisions of section 267 of CrPC,” CBI said in its application. This was opposed by Vanzara’s lawyer V D Gajjar, who claimed that, “as per June 3 order of special CBI court in Mumbai, Vanzara has to remain in Gujarat till the investigation of the case is concluded.” ACJM, after going through the copy of Mumbai court order, refused to grant CBI request for the transfer of the accused and ordered him to be sent in judicial custody. Mumbra (near Mumbai) girl Ishrat Jahan alongwith Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, two alleged Pakistani nationals Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were killed in an encounter on June 15, 2004 on the outskirts of the city. Vanzara was heading the team of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, which was involved in the encounter of the four. Gujarat police had claimed that they were part of the conspiracy to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. After Jahan’s mother complained about the alleged fake encounter, Gujarat High Court constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which concluded that the encounter was fake. Following the report, the High Court handed over the case to the CBI on December 1, 2011 and is monitoring the probe. PTI