Gujarat: CBI court discharges 3 cops in Ishrat Jahan encounter case

A special CBI court on Wednesday discharged police officers G L Singhal, Tarun Barot and Anaju Chaudhary in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

Special CBI judge V R Raval allowed the discharge applications of Singhal, Barot (now retired) and Chaudhary.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 20 conveyed to the court that the state government had declined prosecution sanction against the three accused.

The court in its October 2020 order observed that they had "acted in their official duties," so the probe agency was required to obtain prosecution sanction.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, was killed along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar by Gujarat police in an 'encounter' near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The police claimed the four were terrorists who were planning to assassinate then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

However, a high court-appointed Special Investigation Team concluded that the encounter was fake, after which the CBI registered a case against various police officials.