Ishrat Jahan's family writes to home secy, alleges threat

The family of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat Police, has written to Union Home Secretary saying they are being threatened, and have requested security. Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kauser said: “At around 2:30 am today four to five men came and banged on our door demanding that we open it. They said they were from the police… we did not open the door… we are being threatened.” [caption id=“attachment_948787” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ishrat Jahan. IBNLive[/caption] Ishrat and her friend Javed Shaikh, alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, were killed near Ahmedabad by a team of Gujarat Crime Branch officials on 15 June, 2004 after allegedly being illegally confined in police custody for nearly ten days. Meanwhile, the CBI, on Thursday asked the home ministry for the files on the basis of which it changed its stance on the antecedents of Ishrat Jahan. The then Under Secretary Home Ministry, R V S Mani gave two affidavits before the Gujarat High Court, within a period of nearly two months, giving contradicting opinions on the antecedents of Ishrat, sources said. In the affidavit filed on 6 August, 2009, Ishrat and three others were termed as terrorists while in the affidavit filed on 30 September, 2009, it claimed that there was no conclusive evidence to suggest she was a terrorist. The CBI has filed its first charge sheet in connection with the fake encounter and is likely to file another in the next six weeks which is likely to highlight the conspiracy behind the killing. With PTI inputs