Ishrat Jahan was a "19-year-old kid" (fortunately her fathe…

The Gujarat police said that she was on a terror mission to assassinate Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister. The police said it was a suicide (fidayeen) mission. Police identified Johar and Rana as Pakistani nationals.

Shaikh was allegedly “arranging their local network”.

When the FIR was registered, Ishrat Jahan could not be identified by the police. She went by “female terrorist” in the police record. Later, her identity came to light as a college student from Mumbai’s suburb Mumbra.

In July 2004, a Pakistan-based news outlet published a report in which terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) claimed that Ishrat Jahan was its operative by describing her as “woman activist of LeT”. Police mentioned this report in its investigation.

The claim was later retracted by the terror group.

The said encounter took place in June 2004. The FIR said a police officer received a alert from a personal source that three men were on their way from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in a blue Indica along with firearms and explosives.

The police intercepted the vehicle on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. A shootout ensued, the police said. Four people were killed in the shootout. Police said the terrorists fired more than 50 rounds from two revolvers and two Kalashnikovs.

No police personnel were injured in the shootout.

The encounter became hugely controversial with human rights activists and BJP's rival parties alleging that it was a targeted killing. (Where were these activists when palghar sadhus were killed, when an old lady from bengal was beaten).

The Supreme Court later ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the killings, in which the role of several police officers of Gujarat came under probe.

DG Vanzara, the police officer who led the encounter and spent time in jail, was discharged from the case 17 years later, in 2019. The CBI had arrested six police personnel in connection with the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

All six have now been discharged by the CBI court in Ahmedabad.

Special CBI judge V R Raval on Wednesday allowed the discharge applications of G L Singhal, Tarun Barot (now retired) and Anaju Chaudhary.

The three, also the last accused facing prosecution in the case, had filed applications before the court on March 20, seeking "dropping of proceedings for want of requisite sanction".

Following their plea, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court that the Gujarat government had declined prosecution sanction against the three accused in the encounter case. "The Gujarat government has declined sanction for the prosecution of the three accused.

We submitted the letter to the court," RC Kodekar, the special prosecutor, had said.

The court had in its October 2020 order observed that they had “acted in their official duties,” so the probe agency was required to obtain prosecution sanction.

The CBI had named seven police officers -- Pandey, Vanzara, Amin, Singhal, Barot, Parmar, and Chaudhary - as accused in its first charge sheet filed in 2013.

In 2019, the CBI court had dropped proceedings against former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the case after the state government similarly refused sanction. In 2018, former in-charge Director General of Police P P Pandey was discharged from the case.

Parmar died during the course of hearing.

From time and again UPA was trying to coin a term Hindu Terrorism and totally twisted this case as a fake encounter which only weakened Indian in the global arena where we cannot expose Pakistan's tricky moves. UPA was desperate to keep power even at the cost of the country.

It is not new that UPA as a party, was given "judicial slaps" from time and again - be it killing of MKG or banning RSS or any other case that try to frame Hindu-Terror. This is a party who wants to cling onto power at all costs - even at the cost of the Nation.