In a recent development in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the Home Ministry has not granted permission to prosecute former Intelligence Bureau official Rajinder Kumar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had been investigating the case, had reportedly accused Kumar of murder and criminal conspiracy and also booked him under the Arms Act. Three serving IB officers – P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede were also accused in the case for conspiracy and illegal confinement.
CBI had then sought sanction from the Home Ministry to prosecute Kumar, but the same has been denied denied for the want of evidence. According to CBI, the killing of Jahan and three others in a fake encounter in 2004 was result of joint conspiracy of Gujarat police and the IB.
Recently, Narendra K Amin, the key accused in the alleged fake encounter Ishrat Jahan was reinstated by the Gujarat Home Department as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) at Gandhinagar.
The Ishrat Jahan encounter case took place on 15 June 2004, and involved apparent fake encounter killings of Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year-old girl from Maharashtra, and three men: Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar who were gunned down for their alleged links to terrorists, by officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch. In the CBI investigation, it was revealed that Amin was among the accused policemen who fired from his service revolver at Ishrat Jahan, and the rest.