Today, in 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake case, a special CBI court granted bail to suspended IPS NK Amin, who is among accused who shot at Ishrat, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistan nationals.
Special judge KR Upadhyay gave the order giving relief to Amin who was arrested by CBI in 2013. Earlier, The court granted bail to IPS officer PP Pandey and retired IPS DG Vanzara. The other five accused were granted default bail by CBI court after the central probe agency failed to file chargesheet in 90 days time period. These accused included IPS officer G L Singhal, DSP Tarun Barot, JG Parmar and constable Anaju Chaudhary.
Amin sought bail on the ground of parity with other accused and claimed he only followed his superiors’ orders. On the other hand, CBI chargesheet him for playing a role at every stage of the encounter including the conspiracy before abducting Ishrat and others, keeping them in illegal confinement and then killing them. The CBI blamed Amin of firing 3 rounds at Ishrat.
Amin’s name also figures in the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi. In 2013, he was granted bail by a Mumbai court, but he was arrested again by the CBI in the Ishrat case.
The CBI investigation revealed the encounter was a joint operation carried out by Gujarat Police and Intelligence Bureau officials. In February 2014, the CBI also chargesheeted four IB officials, including its former special director Rajinder Kumar. But since then the case has been pending in the court awaiting sanction from the Central government.
