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Government notifies setting up of SIT for Ishrat Jahan case

Investigation of the Ishrat Jahan encounter case by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Karnal Singh, a joint commissioner of police in Delhi, will begin soon.

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Investigation of the Ishrat Jahan encounter case by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Karnal Singh, a joint commissioner of police in Delhi, will begin soon. The state government informed the Gujarat high court on Monday that it had issued the notification for constitution of the probe team, as per the Gujarat high court's order of September 24.

The state government informed the court that it had issued the notification about the formation of the SIT on November 16, and that it had been published in the Government Gazette on November 19.

The government pleader made this submission in the high court during a hearing of the contempt of court petition moved by Mukul Sinha, lawyer of Gopinath Pillai. The division bench of Justice AM Kapadia and Justice BN Mehta disposed of the contempt of court petition after the government pleader's submission.

Gopinath Pillai is the father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, who was killed along with Mumbai-girl Ishrat Jahan and two others, in an encounter with the Gujarat police in June 2004.

The new probe team has to submit a report within three months to the Gujarat high court after conducting an investigation into the encounter to ascertain whether it was genuine or stage-managed. Karnal Singh, chairman of the SIT, will decide on the location of the probe team's headquarters apart from the logistics, and office and staff requirements.

Pillai had filed the contempt of court petition as the state government had not complied with the high court order and had moved the Supreme Court instead.

During the last hearing of the contempt petition, the state government had assured the court that it would issue the notification soon. The government pleader had also said that the delay had occurred because the state government had moved the Supreme Court against the high court order.

However, on November 12, the apex court had rejected the Gujarat government's plea challenging the high court's order for the constitution of a new SIT.

Members of the new SIT include Karnal Singh, a 1984 batch Delhi cadre IPS officer whose name was suggested by the Union home ministry; Mohan Jha, a 1985 batch Gujarat cadre officer suggested by the state government; and Satish Verma, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer of 1986 batch whose name was suggested by the petitioner.

Mumbai-based Ishrat Jahan (19) was killed in an encounter, along with Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani, by crime branch officials near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

After the encounter, the Gujarat police had claimed that Ishrat and the three other slain youths were Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives on a mission to kill chief minister Narendra Modi. 

It had also claimed that the encounter was carried out following specific inputs from the central intelligence agencies about the LeT planning attacks in different parts of the country. The new SIT will begin fresh investigations into the encounter case.

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