2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case disposed of without trial as case against last two IB officers dropped

The 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case on Monday was closed for good, with a metropolitan court allowing applications of two accused Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers including former special director Rajinder Kumar challenging issuance of summons against them.

The court had issued summons against them for taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed against them.

The duo challenged the summons on the ground that since the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), their cadre-controlling authority, denied sanction to prosecute them, the summons were illegal.

The metropolitan court while allowing their pleas ordered that case was being disposed of.

"The court allowed the applications of the two remaining accused and ordered that the case was being disposed of," special public prosecutor, CBI, R C Kodekar told DH when contacted.

With the relief to two officers, the case of Ishrat Jahan encounter stands closed as all accused including seven Gujarat policemen, one of the them died last year, and two other IB officers, getting dropped from the case. The seven policemen included former Director General of Polce P P Pandey, who was discharged, while cases against ex IPS officer D G Vanzara, ex Superintendent of Police N K Amin, Inspector General of Police G L Singhal, ex Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot and SRP commando Anaju Chaudhary were dropped for want of government sanction. The seventh accused J G Parmar passed away last year. The CBI has told the court in writing that it accepted all orders and won't challenge them.

The Gujarat high court monitored CBI investigation had found that 19 years old Ishrat Jahan, her friend Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh and two alleged Pakistani nationals- Amjadali Rani and Zeeshan Johar in the killed in fake encounter in a joint operation of Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch and officials of Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau which was then headed by Rajinder Kumar. However, the sessions court while deciding applications seeking dropping of the case for want of sanction that "there was not enough evidence that they were not terrorists and "there is no question of any fake encounter on the part of any such police officers."

Apart from Kumar, his three juniors- Rajiv Wankhede, T Mittal and Mukul Sinha were also involved in the operation. Kumar along with Gujarat policemen were accused of conspiracy, murder, abduction, illegal confinement and sections of arms acts while the three IB officials, who were then Assistant Central Intelligence Officers (ACIO), were chargesheeted for conspiracy, abduction and illegal confinement.

The case was dropped against all the accused persons from state police and IB on the ground that government refused to grant sanction under section 197 of code of criminal procedure (CrPC) to prosecute them. The section mandates prior approval of government before prosecuting government servants. Only former DGP PP Pandey was discharged on merit of the case and want of sanction.

The CBI had filed the chargesheet against the four IB officers in February 2014 before the metropolitan court and since then it remained pending for cognizance. In 2015, MHA denied sanction to CBI for prosecuting them. The chargesheet was never committed to trial (sessions) court, as the law prescribes, and remained with the metropolitan court. The court had summoned two other accused IB officers who challenged them and was quashed by a sessions court.