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Ishrat Jahan's Encounter During 2004 Gujarat Riots Vindicated By Headley's Statement, Claim Home Ministry Officials

Ishrat Jahan's Encounter Vindicated By Headley's Statement, Say Home Ministry Officials
Supporters hold candles in front of a banner bearing the portrait of Ishrat Jahan during a protest in Ahmedabad on July 6, 2013. The protest was organised to demand justice for Ishrat Jahan, who was killed along with three others by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter in June 2004, and according to the Indian Central Beurau of Investigation (CBI) was not a terrorist. AFP PHOTO / Sam PANTHAKY (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)
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Supporters hold candles in front of a banner bearing the portrait of Ishrat Jahan during a protest in Ahmedabad on July 6, 2013. The protest was organised to demand justice for Ishrat Jahan, who was killed along with three others by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter in June 2004, and according to the Indian Central Beurau of Investigation (CBI) was not a terrorist. AFP PHOTO / Sam PANTHAKY (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)

Home Ministry officials today said their position that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was a terrorist has been vindicated by the statement of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley before a Mumbai court.

However, Headley's disclosures on Ishrat carry little evidential value as his statement was based on hearsay, which carries no weight even though he was making the statement under Section 164 CrPC, which is admissible in a court of law, feel the Home Ministry officals.

Headley's statement will not help the CBI, which had probed the alleged fake encounter as the probe agency investigated only about the June 2004 incident and not about whether the 19-year-old Mumbra girl was an LeT member or not, unnamed officials said.

The CBI had named in its charge sheet former Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar and three other IB officials with murder and criminal conspiracy in the Ishrat encounter case.

However, the Home Ministry had denied sanction to prosecute the IB officials.

Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, however, asked the Congress, Left and other opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi Jahan's killing in Gujarat 2004 riots.

"You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jahan's name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT," he said.

"I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country," he said.

Headley, in his testimony before a Mumbai court on Thursday, reportedly said that Jahan was actually an LeT operative.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on Jahan from Mumbra near Mumbai and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by Lakhvi.

Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over the probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIT).

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.