Ishrat case: Court warns IPS officer for not appearing

Indian Police Service officer G L Singhal, prime suspect in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, has been issued a warning by a court hearing the Naroda Patiya riot case after he failed to appear before it despite summons.

Singhal, currently Kheda SP, was investigation officer of the Naroda Patiya case for two years, when he was serving as DySP with the city crime branch after the riots in 2002.

He was summoned to appear before special judge Jyotsna Yagnik on Monday but he remained absent and sent a report that he was having health issues.

The court took serious note of the issue and observed that Singhal could have informed this earlier and warned the IPS officer not to repeat such behaviour again. It also ordered Singhal to appear before it on December 2, when he is likely to be cross-examined.

On December 1, the Gujarat high court is expected to pronounce its order on registration of FIR in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case and which agency would probe the case.

Last week, the Special Investigation Team in its report submitted in the Gujarat High Court had concluded that the encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others -- Javed Sheikh

alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar -- was fake as they were killed prior to the incident.