Six senior police officers have been added to assist the three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Gujarat High Court for a fresh investigation into the alleged encounter killing of Ishrat Jehan and three others on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004.
The High Court appointed the committee on a petition filed by Ishrat Jahan’s mother, Shamima Kausar, demanding a CBI probe into the encounter, which an Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate, S.P. Tamang, recently declared “fake” and described the killing of the four as nothing but “cold blooded murder” by the police.
The court — while rejecting her plea for a CBI inquiry — appointed the committee, headed by an officer of the rank of Director-General of Police, Pramod Kumar, with two Deputy Inspectors General of Police, Mohan Jha and J.K. Bhatt, as his team members.
The High Court had allowed the team to appoint other police officials, if necessary, to assist in the investigation.
The team has now added six more police officials: Assistant Commissioner of Police V. R. Toliya, Superintendent of Police P.K. Jadeja, two police inspectors, M.A. Singha and P.M. Parmanand, and two police sub-inspectors, A.M. Sayed and R.D. Raval.
The SIT has been given time till November 30 to submit its report in the High Court.
