CBI wanted to arrest Modi in Ishrat case: Ex-DIG Vanzara
Ahmedabad, June 5: Gujarat's former Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara on Tuesday told a special court that the CBI wanted to arrest then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and then Minister of State for Home Amit Shah in the Ishrat Jahan fake shootout case.
Arguing for Vanzara in a discharge petition filed in the CBI court presided over by J.K. Pandya, his counsel V.D. Gajjar claimed that though the Central Bureau of Investigation intended to arrest Modi and Shah, "fortunately" it did not happen.
While Modi is now the Prime Minister of India, Shah is the President of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Vanzara, who is out on bail in the case, had earlier submitted in the same court that Modi was secretly questioned by the case Investigating Officer when he was the Chief Minister.
The CBI had given a clean chit in 2014 to Shah on grounds of "insufficient evidence".
In June 2004, Mumbai-based 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed alias Pranesh, and Pakistani nationals Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were gunned down by a team of Vanzara's men in a gun battle on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Ishrat Jahan and her friends were dubbed terrorists out on a mission to assassinate the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. However, subsequent CBI investigation concluded that the shootout was fake.
Vanzara's lawyer on Tuesday claimed that the charge-sheet against his client in the case was "concocted" and that there was no prosecutable evidence against the former police officer.
He also said that the testimony of witnesses could not be believed as some were earlier among the accused in the case.
The CBI opposed the discharge plea of Vanzara. Another co-accused and senior police official N.K. Amin too has filed a discharge plea in the same court and hearing on it concluded last month.
In his final submission in the court, Amin, a retired SP and now a practicing lawyer, claimed that Satish Verma, the Gujarat cadre IPS official who assisted the CBI in the investigations, had "tampered with the evidence" and maintained that he had "never fired from his gun".
Both former police officers had also sought parity with former in-charge DGP P.P. Pandey, a co-accused who was discharged by the court.
The court posted the matter for next hearing on June 15.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rape accused's mother murdered by victim's brother in MP's Shivpuri
Shivpuri (PTI): The 60-year-old mother of a rape accused was killed allegedly by the victim's brother in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, a police official said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday, Rannod police station house officer (SHO) Arvind Chauhan said.
"An anganwadi worker returning from a hospital was offered a lift by one Inder Gurjar, who took her to a secluded spot and raped her. She called up her brothers to narrate the ordeal. One brother of the victim along with two associates went to Gurjar's house and assaulted him. When Gurjar's mother Sirkunwarbai (60) intervened, she was attacked with a sharp weapon. She died on the spot," he said.
Based on a complaint filed by the deceased woman's daughter-in-law, three persons were booked for murder. One of them was held on Saturday, the official added.
A separate case has also been registered against Gurjar for rape, he said.
Police personnel have been deployed in the area in view of tension following the incident, the official added.
