The Ishrat case is the fourth encounter case in the state to be handed over to a central agency. A two-member bench, comprising Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari directed the chairman of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by it earlier, to file an FIR and the CBI to take over the probe in two weeks.
The SIT had recently submitted a report to the court stating that its inquiry had found that the encounter in which Mumbai teenager Ishrat and three others were killed was fake. The court had reserved its order on which the agency should investigate further.
During the hearing, the state government submitted that the investigation be carried out by the state agency, while stating that it was not averse to probe by any central agency, including the CBI.
Rejecting the plea, the court said: “We cannot hand over the investigations to state agency as they have been discredited by a report of an earlier SIT head Karnail Singh who had alleged that government had created roadblocks in investigations.’’ For fair and unbiased investigation, an independent agency should carry out further probe, it added. The court also rejected the plea for a continued SIT probe by counsel for Gopinath Pillai whose son Javed was also killed in the encounter.
The order tightens the noose around 21 police officers, including four IPS officers, for their alleged role in the encounter. The SIT will name the officers in its FIR which it will be filing soon.
“We are grateful to the court that investigations which have been pending for years will finally be on the track,’’ said Vrinda Grover, counsel for Ishrat's mother.
At the Supreme Court, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai directed the Gujarat government to place before it all CDs in that regard next Wednesday.
The judges took strong exception to the withholding of CDs on officers’ call details by it from CBI, probing the case. “On Wednesday, you (government) must have CDs with you,” the Bench said.
The court’s direction came during the hearing of a CBI plea challenging the Gujarat High Court’s order granting bail to former state home minister Amit Shah, who is facing trial for his alleged involvement in the 2005 Sohrabuddin fake encounter killing by police.