Ahmedabad: D G Vanzara, former IPS officer and the main accused in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat was ‘interrogated’ by the police in the alleged fake encounter, reported the Indian Express.
While calling the CBI chargesheet ‘politically motivated’, Vanzara has filed an application before the special CBI court seeking discharge from the case.
“The fact also remains that, the then Chief Minister and the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also called by the IO (investigating officer) and was interrogated, however such material is not placed on record of this case…the fact remains that, it was the intention on part of the then investigating team, which had included one Satish Verma, IPS, was any how on mission so as to reach the then Chief Minister of the state and to rope him as the accused in this case…and for that purpose the story of this whole chargesheet is created and concocted,” Vanzara’s application stated.
However, a senior cop, part of the investigation, told the Indian Express that Vanzara’s claim is a complete lie.
The CBI had filed its chargesheet in the case in 2013 against seven policemen, including P P Pandey, Vanzara, Deputy Inspector General G L Singhal, DSP (retired) N K Amin, Deputy Superintendent of Police (retired) Tarun Barot and others for “kidnapping and murdering 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan, a resident of Mumbai, her friend Javed Sheikh and two alleged Pakistani nationals in 2004. Last year, Vanzara was discharged in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram fake encounter cases.
