The Hindu : National : Ishrat's friends being questioned

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Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

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National

Ishrat's friends being questioned

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JUNE 22. The Gujarat and Thane police continued questioning the friends, associates and relatives of collegian Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza who was killed in a police shoot-out in Ahmedabad last Tuesday.

Amar Jadhav, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Thane, who heads the investigation, said that police officers from both the States were questioning various associates for the past few days, but there were no detentions or arrests. Ishrat's mother was also being questioned, he said, while denying rumours that she would be arrested.

Thane police have unearthed some old cases against Javed, who was also killed in the shootout. Mr. Jadhav said that Javed had some cases right from 1992 till 1997, when he was a resident of Mumbra. He had cases related to rioting, one of causing hurt and three cases of criminal trespass. All the cases are sub-judice and he was not convicted. Javed's wife in Pune has also been questioned.

There are no registered criminal cases against Ishrat or her family and till last week, the Thane police had said there was no evidence linking Ishrat with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Mr. Jadhav said investigations were under way and it was too early to reach any conclusions.

'Ishrat had Lashkar links'

PTI reports:

Intelligence reports today claimed there was evidence to establish Ishrat's links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Ishrat "knew Javed very well and had visited Lucknow and Faizabad with him," intelligence sources said in Mumbai. "The duo had also stayed at Hotel Shivganga in Ahmedabad claiming they were husband and wife."

This information would be forwarded by the Gujarat Government to the Central Government, they said. The two were working under the Dubai-based LeT chief, Mujmil. Six leaders had been named in their hit-list and each had been given a code name. "Those whose code names were included in the list were L.K. Advani (Lala), Narendra Modi (Mubarak), Praveen Togadia (Tinkoo) Bal Thackeray (Kutta), Vinay Katiyar (Kanta) and Uma Bharati (Behenji). However, the risk was highest to Mr. Modi. Ishrat had visited his residence and had surveyed the place earlier."

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