Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Aug 4: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team, which is in Srinagar to ascertain the identity of the two militants who were killed in Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case in Ahmedabad Gujarat in 2004 have not found the two among the missing persons list in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.
They said that the team is in Srinagar to ascertain the identity of Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali alias Salim alias Babar who were killed with Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh in an alleged fake encounter in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on June 15, 2004.
The CBI team is conducting verifications of the missing persons data from Jammu and Kashmir and tallying it with the two Pakistani militants who were killed in Gujarat. “So far they have not found them anywhere in any of the missing persons list from Jammu and Kashmir”, sources added.
Sources said that the two youth Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali alias Babar were Pakistani nationals and were operating in Mahore in Resai district of Jammu and Kashmir. However, how they reached Gujarat where they were killed in an alleged staged encounter is not known.
Sources said that a Pakistani militant Shahid Mehmood, had identified one of the three men killed along with Ishrat as Amjad Ali ailas Babar, a Lashkar operative who had been trained by LeT commander Muzzamil in Pakistan.
However, Mehmood was killed in Astanpora, Srinagar, encounter soon after his revelations about Babar. Jammu and Kashmir Police had claimed that Mehmood and his associate, who were in their custody, tried to flee from the custody and were shot dead in Srinagar.
The CBI is also looking at the details which Mehmood shared with his interrogators in Srinagar about Babar. Sources said that they are investigating as how the two militants Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali alias Babar reached Ahmedabad from Jammu and Kashmir. “CBI is also trying to find out the possibility of the two men being in J&K police custody before they were handed over to Gujarat Police”, sources said.
Initially both Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir Police in their investigations had said that the two youth killed in Ahmedabad were Pakistani nationals and had gone from Jammu and Kashmir to Ahmedabad to target VIP’s in the State. But later Jammu and Kashmir police maintained silence over it.
During investigations of the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case, Gujarat Police had visited Jammu and Kashmir to investigate about the two youth killed in the encounter in Ahmedabad but they could not find anything more than that they were earlier operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
On June 15, 2004, four people including 19 year old school girl, Ishrat Jahan were killed in an alleged fake encounter in Ahmedabad by Gujarat police. Gujarat police later claimed that the accused had militant links and were planning to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The killing of Ishrat Jahan raised suspicious about the Gujarat police claims and the investigations were later handed over to the CBI. The CBI has termed the encounter fake and is probing the identity of two other persons killed with Jahan who Gujarat police says are Pakistani militants.
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