Ishrat Jahan encounter case: Accused police officer seeks bail

Ahmedabad: Police officer N K Amin, an accused in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, on Friday sought bail citing the relief granted to IPS officer D G Vanzara despite his alleged prominent role in the crime.

"As per the police report (charge sheet) filed by CBI, Vanzara was the main accused. On June 13, 2004 Vanzara, P P Pandey and Rajendra Kumar (the then state IB chief) conducted a meeting to make a plan for the elimination of Ishrat and three others," advocate Dinesh Tiwari, Amin's lawyer, argued before special CBI court judge K R Upadhyay.

"The entire operation was conducted by Vanzara and he was the main person to decide about four persons to be eliminated. All the things were decided by Vanzara as per CBI's version; when he was granted the bail, my client is also entitled to get the bail," said Tiwari.

"If the bail is granted to the main brain (Vanzara) behind the encounter, then the executioners should also be granted the bail," he said and claimed Vanzara's role was much bigger than that of his client's.

Amin was the deputy superintendent of police when Mumbra- based college girl Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Jowher were gunned down at Kotarpur here on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch claimed they were LeT terrorists who had planned to kill the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. However, according to CBI, the encounter was "fake" and it was actually a joint operation of Gujarat Police and the Intelligence Bureau. In February, Vanzara and Pandey were released on bail. Amin is the only accused in the case who is still behind the bars.