CBI to file chargesheet in Ishrat Jahan case today

The CBI is likely to name only those policemen who were at the scene of crime besides seeking more time in a bid to probe the conspiracy angle behind the incident.

The Gujarat High Court had earlier told the CBI to file the chargesheet at the earliest so that no more accused can get out on default bail, while a top official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was interrogated for his role in the alleged fake encounter killing.

The court asked the CBI to focus on the conspiracy involving the custody of the deceased, the encounter and the persons involved in the alleged conspiracy and the alleged fake gunfight in which the four persons were killed.

Ishrat Jahan. File pic

The court also allowed CBI's plea seeking that Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Verma, who has been assisting the CBI in the investigation, be dropped from the probe team from June 23.

The CBI earlier this month grilled Intelligence Bureau (IB) Special Director Rajender Kumar at an unknown location in Gandhinagar in connection with his role in the case and three others by Ahmedabad police.

The CBI, which is investigating the case on the directive of the Gujarat High Court, wants to charge the then Ahmedabad IB station chief Rajender Kumar for conspiracy to murder.

Nineteen-year-old Ishrat was killed along with three others on June 15, 2004 allegedly by a team of Crime Branch officials on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The Crime Branch had then claimed that the four were LeT members and were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
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