Ishrat encounter: Scientific probe nailed DCB’s lie
SIT, appointed by HC, relied on scientific and medical evidence to prepare report on the controversial killing of Ishrat and 3 others.
Science helped nail the cops in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, literally. Scientific evidences and medical reports of the victims exposed the claims of the cops in the fake encounter, so says the Gujarat high court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The post mortem report of the four persons who were killed in the encounter, reconstruction of the encounter and the report by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory guided the SIT while it probed into the nature of the case.
According to sources, the claim of officials of the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) contradicted the scientific and medical evidences available with the SIT, including the report of the metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang.
Sources said, the DCB had claimed that the four were killed around 4am on June 15, 2004. However, the post mortem report speaks a different tale. According to the report, semi-digested food was found in the victims' stomachs. This indicated that the four had been killed seven or eight hours earlier than what DCB claimed.
According to sources, the pattern of firing of bullets was studied during the reconstruction of the encounted by the SIT.
According to FSL and ballistic reports, some of the wounds that were seen on the bodies could not have been possible in exchange of gun firing. The SIT had collected many vital evidences from the office of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).
Sources claimed that SIT had interrogated many people who were aware of the encounter. Three of these witnesses reportedly told the cops that the four were not killed at the spot of encounter as claimed by DCB.
The SIT had reconstructed the encounter scene at Kotarpur thrice in presence of scientific and medical experts from Delhi. They waited for their report for a few months and the case is mainly based upon the scientific and medical evidences. Sources claimed that, though initially a couple of witnesses changed their statements before the SIT, many came out with the true story behind the encounter.