Our stand on Ishrat's innocence vindicated, says her family

A day after the Special Investigation Team concluded that Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in a fake encounter in Ahmedabad, her family members on Tuesday said their stand has been vindicated.

"I have always said that my daughter was not at fault and this has been proved by the SIT report. Our demand for a CBI probe into the killing is still pending," Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar told a news conference.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college girl who hailed from Mumbra on the outskirts of Mumbai, was killed in a shootout by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch on June 15, 2004. Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed with her.

"Against the backdrop of the stigma and ordeal we underwent, we want that all those involved in the killing should be brought to book and given the capital punishment," said Raza Anwar Iqbal, brother of Ishrat Jehan.

Local MLA Jitendra Awhad demanded that the Intelligence Bureau report cited by the Gujarat police --which claimed that Ishrat and others were terrorists on a mission to kill Narendra Modi -- be verified.

"Chief Minister Narendra Modi should also be brought under the purview of the examination," he added.

In a setback to the Narendra Modi government, the special investigation team probing the 2004 killings on Monday concluded that Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter, prompting the Gujarat high court to order a fresh FIR against the accused policemen in the case.