NEW DELHI, 26 June 2004 — The Gujarat government has submitted a report to the federal Home Ministry on the June 15 “encounter” in which the police gunned down four people, including Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old Bombay college girl. Police claimed the four were on a mission to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The incident has since snowballed into a major controversy with questions being raised about the claims of the Gujarat police and evidence offered by it in describing the four as having links with the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Congress-led Maharashtra government last week ordered an inquiry to ascertain if Ishrat had a criminal record. Police, who searched Ishrat’s house in Mumbra, say they are yet to find evidence of the girl’s links with the terrorist Lashkar.
Home Ministry sources said the report from the Gujarat government was received Thursday and was being examined by top ministry officials. They refused to divulge the contents of the report, saying that law and order was a state subject and the Home Ministry, as a matter of routine, sought reports from state governments on major incidents.
They declined to comment if the report would be sent to the Foreign Ministry for approaching the Pakistani High Commission and discuss repatriating the bodies of the two alleged Pakistani terrorists. The Gujarat police has named two as Jishan Joher and Amjadali Akbarali Rana. The fourth person was identified as Javed Sheikh from Pune.
The Home Ministry sources said the Gujarat report dwells on links between Javed Sheikh and Ishrat, their trips to various places and evidence of their alleged links with the Lashkar and its two operatives — Joher and Rana. The National Human Rights Commission also reminded the Gujarat police of the commission’s guidelines on investigation of a shootout which should be carried out by a separate branch of police to ensure impartiality.
The sources said the Home Ministry wanted to “ evaluate the evidence” and the claims of the Gujarat police.
