South Asia News

Indian court says student died in staged killing by police

Sep 8, 2009, 6:46 GMT

New Delhi - A 19-year-old female student and three others were killed in a staged encounter by the police in India's western state of Gujarat in 2004, according to a judicial probe, news reports said Tuesday. The Gujarat police had earlier said Ishrat Jahan and three others were part of a cell of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group plotting to assassinate state Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Police said Jahan, a Mumbai college student, and her boyfriend Pranesh Pillai, alias Javed Sheikh, along with two alleged Pakistani nationals - Rajkumar Rana and Jishan Johar - were killed in Gujarat's capital Ahmedabad after a police chase on June 15, 2004. Jahan's relatives claimed she was killed by the police in a staged clash, and asked the court to investigate. The magisterial court ruled that the killings were staged by the police officers in order to win promotions and rewards, The Times of India newspaper reported. The report by judge SP Tamang said police abducted all four from India's financial hub Mumbai on June 12, 2004. The report named 21 policemen, including then deputy inspector general of police DG Vanzara, crime branch chief PP Pandey and then-Ahmedabad police commissioner KR Kaushik, who later retired as Gujarat police chief. Vanzara is currently in jail facing trial in another alleged fake encounter case.

South Asia News

Indian court says student died in staged killing by police

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