They said that they did not trust Special Investigation Team (SIT). The accused moved the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday demanding an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Earlier, a petition filed by Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar’s seeking the transfer of the case to CBI was dismissed by the division bench of the High Court and instead of that a three-member SIT was formed comprising of senior police officers Karnail Singh, Mohan Jha and Satish Verma.
According to reports, the police officers, who are currently under scanner in connection with the case, said that they don’t trust the SIT investigation into the 2004 encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others by Gujarat police.
Two weeks ago the Gujarat High Court threatened to transfer the inquiry into the Ishrat Jahan encounter case to a CBI if the state government continued to hamper the work of the Special Investigation Team. The SIT was appointed by the High Court.
A Division Bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari observed that the state government was hampering probe. It warned the government not to compel the High Court to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Intelligence Agency.
Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004 by the city Crime Branch police, who accused the four of being Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives out on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.