The Hindu : National : CBI probe sought into `police encounter'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 18, 2004

National

National

CBI probe sought into `police encounter'

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 17. The Gujarat Congress has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the police shootout killing four alleged terrorists on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in the early hours of Tuesday saying it was a "fake encounter.''

The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Amarsinh Chaudhary, alleged that it was a "police cooked-up drama'' staged at the instance of their political bosses to create a "public sympathy" for the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who was under a political cloud.

Alleging that the entire episode was "politically-motivated,'' Mr. Chaudhary said that he would write to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, demanding a CBI inquiry.

Even the Mumbai police could not trace any terrorist link to the 19-year-old college student, Raza Ishrat Jahan, the who was killed in the shootout, Mr. Chaudhary said and wondered why the Gujarat police allowed the car allegedly carrying the four terrorists to come up to Ahmedabad from Mumbai and did not try to intercept it en route. Alleging that police have much to hide, he said that it was no surprise that police undertook the operation in the early hours to "eliminate the possibility of other witnesses of the deliberate killing."

He asked why they were killed instead of trying to get them surrender so that police could have learnt details about the terrorist outfit. No terrorist organisation had so far accepted responsibility for the alleged mission. The Chief Minister was under "very tight security and not even a fly can reach him,'' he said.

The Gujarat police was tight-lipped on further queries about the encounter. The Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, K.R. Kaushik, who briefed the media today on the security arrangements for the "Jagannath rath yatra'' here on Saturday, declined to answer any question on Tuesday's shootout.

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