Car carrying Ishrat’s mother fired at

The car in which Ishrat Jahan’s mother Shamima Kauser was travelling was allegedly fired at near Amrut Nagar at Mumbra in Thane district while she was returning home from the airport on the night of June 18.

She had gone to Ahmedabad for a hearing of the case of an alleged fake encounter in which Ishrat was killed along with three others in 2004.

Rauf Khan and Munna Sahil, who accompanied her, heard a loud explosion when they were entering Amrut Nagar around 1 a.m., and the glass at the back shattered. Sahil said that hearing the noise, the car driver slammed on the brakes. Behind them were two men on a motorcycle and they had fallen down. He saw one of the men having a country-made gun, which was later found on the road. No one was injured.

However, the Mumbra police treat it as a case of accident. The glass was shattered as the car driver slammed on the brakes suddenly, causing the motorcycle to crash onto the car. The pillion rider was thrown on the car in the impact and the glass was broken, said senior inspector S.R. Munde of the Mumbra station.

He said a case was filed under Section 279 (rash driving) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs. 50 or upwards) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. One of the motorcycle riders Yunus Babu Ansari was arrested, but Feroze ran away. Ansari got bail.

The gun was an airgun, which cost Rs. 500 to Rs. 700, he said.

Mr. Munde admitted that some time ago, a request for security to Khan and Munna Sahil was refused. Asked why people were carrying “toy guns” around, Mr. Munde said: “You know what kind of area Mumbra is; people are afraid.” Ansari and Feroze were autorickshaw drivers in the area, who had gone out for a drink and were returning home when the accident happened.

Khan said Sahil and he had been helping Ms. Kauser for nine years and had faced threats in the past. Sahil was fired at four months ago while he was in his car. A complaint was lodged with the police. But Mr. Munde said these people were trying to create an impression that they needed security.