Ishrat encounter reconstruction highlights loopholes in cops' version

Ahmedabad: The reconstruction of the Ishrat Jahan and Javed Pillai encounters by the Special Investigations Team (SIT) two days ago, has pointed out several loopholes in the FIR previously filed by cops involved in the encounter.

The SIT led by Maharashtra senior police officer Satyapal Singh has found that the size and type of the bullet recovered from the bodies of Ishrat and three others killed with her in June 2004, don't match with the bullets of the weapons reportedly used by the police during the alleged encounter.

SIT sources told media persons that while the police vehicle from which the policemen reportedly fired on Ishrat and her accomplices, was reported to be parked on the left side of the Tata Indica car in which Ishrat and those killed were traveling but the bullet marks have been found to be on the right side of Ishrat's car.

According to SIT sleuths, it is not possible to have bullet marks on the right side when the bullets have been fired from the left side of the car. An SIT official said that one of the bullets recovered from the body of Amjad Rana, one of the alleged terrorists, was of 0.9 mm caliber not used in the police weapon. SIT sources said that there were also some bullets from a .38 caliber weapon not used by the police.

According to SIT sources, these are some of the major discrepancies in the police version. "When the policemen involved in the encounter claim to have fired from service revolvers, sten guns, Ak_47 and AK-57 assault rifles, why should the bullets recovered from the bodies of the deceased persons be of different marks?" asks an SIT official.

The post-mortem report of the deceased persons also says that the bullet injuries in the chest, throat and ear lobes were caused by firing from a close range and not from a long distance, as mentioned in the FIR by cops involved in the encounter.

The post-mortem report also indicated that Ishrat, Javed, Amjad Rana and Zeeshan Jauhar were killed 12 hours before the police claimed. According to the police, they were shot dead in encounter on the afternoon of June 15 but the post mortem report says they were killed before June 14 mid night.

Earlier, magistrate S P Tamang in his probe report had claimed that it was a cold-blooded murder and not an encounter. He had also cited several discrepancies in the police version. However, his report was stayed by the Gujarat High court. The high court later on set up the SIT to probe the matter further.

source: TwoCircles.net