Ishrat was let off then lured back to be killed

AHMEDABAD: Why was IshratJahan killed? The CBI chargesheet likely to be filed this week in the court may have some answers to this. The investigating agency has found striking similarities between the case of the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and Kauserbi, wife of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was killed soon after her husband was gunned down in a fake encounter.
Both Ishrat and Kauserbi did not have a criminal record. Investigators believe the Gujarat cops killed them because both were witnesses to the abductions. In Ishrat’s case, she was witness to the abduction of Amjad Ali. CBI officials claim to have evidence that Ishrat had visited Ahmedabad with Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh) on May 25, 2004, about 20 days before she was killed, and met Amjad Ali Rana alias Salim on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Their vehicle was intercepted by cops NK Amin and Bharat Patel, who forcibly took Amjad into custody. Both Javed and Ishrat were allowed to go.
Amjad was presented before Rajinder Kumar, the then boss of special intelligence bureau, and DG Vanzara, an accused in Sohrabuddin as well as Ishrat encounter cases. Already present here was Abdul Gani alias Zeeshan Johar. “They both confessed that they were part of a Kashmiri secessionist group,” says a CBI source.
CBI claims that after interrogation, it was decided by Kumar and Vanzara in consultation with their bosses that both Zeeshan and Amjad would be bumped off.
“They feared that bumping Amjad Ali could create problems as he was picked up in presence of Javed and Ishrat. Hence, both were called under some pretext to Gujarat,” he said.
The call data record suggests that on June 6, 2004 Rajinder Kumar’s office conveyed to Javed, who was in Bangalore, to come to Ahmedabad along with Ishrat.
Javed instructed Ishrat to come to Nashik from where they both travelled together and reached Vasad on June 12. Here, NK Amin and Tarun Barot detained them and took them to Khodiyar farm in the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
On the intervening night of June 14-15, all four were killed in a staged encounter.