Ishrat Jahan case: Surprised that IB officer not named in CBI chargesheet, says lawyer

Ahmedabad: The lawyer of one of the four people killed in a police encounter in the Ishrat Jahan case which the CBI established as fake today expressed surprise that Rajinder Kumar, a Special Director of Intelligence Bureau, was not named in its first charge sheet itself. Mukul Sinha, lawyer for Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, alleged there was political pressure behind Kumar not being made an accused in the first charge sheet submitted in the 2004 Ishar Jahan encounter case. [caption id=“attachment_926111” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ishrat Jahan. Ibnlive[/caption] “I am surprised his(Kumar) name was not there,” he added. Sinha said Kumar should not only be named but also arrested especially when the CBI submitted in its charge sheet that the fake encounter was a “joint operation” between Gujarat police and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB). “It is a clever method of hiding the truth as far as the actual culprits are concerned,” Sinha said, and alleged that Kumar is one of the main accused. The charge sheet, however, said investigation is on against Kumar and other four officers of the IB. The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate H S Khutwad was also told that a supplementary charge sheet would be filed against IB officers once the investigation was over. Besides Ishrat, a 19-year old college girl and Shaikh, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter near Ahmedabad on 15 June, 2004. Kumar has already been questioned twice by CBI triggering a row between the probe agency and the IB. PTI