CBI, which investigated the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case, today opposed the bail petition of IPS officer D G Vanzara who is one of the prime accused.
Prosecutor L D Tiwari argued before the special CBI judge K R Upadhyaya that bail cannot be granted only on the ground that the accused has been behind the bars for long and the Supreme court had said in a similar case that grant of bail in such a serious and grave offence would be "an open challenge to the civil society".
Vanzara's petition mentions that he is in jail for over seven years. His defence is that he was only following the instructions of his superior officials.
His name was not in the original FIR but CBI vindictively chargesheeted him, he says.
Tiwari, however, said there was nothing wrong in chargesheeting him as his role came to light later in the probe.
The court today also heard the bail petitions of co-accused, former Additional Director General of Police P P Pandey.
Pandey's lawyer, N D Nanawati, said that CBI made one of the accused an approver so that he could get bail. "This was modus operandi in the case followed by the CBI of making an accused, the then PSI Bharat Patel, a witness.
They compel the accused to become a witness. It was CBI's modus operandi to let him get the default bail. This is unfair practise," he said.
Mumbra-based college girl Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat police on the outskirts of the city on June 15, 2004. According to CBI, it was a fake encounter while police claimed they were terrorists.
The next hearing would be on January 16.