Ishrat Jahan case: Another accused policeman reinstated

After IPS officer G L Singhal’s reinstatement, another policeman, named in the Ishrat Jahan case chargesheet — head constable Anaju Chaudhary — is back in the police fold. Chaudhary was posted at the State Reserve Police (SRP) in Godhra last week and is currently deployed at Ramol for Muharram security.

Chaudhary is among the 11 people chargesheeted in the much-hyped encounter of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two alleged Pakistani terrorists Zeeshan Johar and Amjadali Rana. In the chargesheet, CBI has said that Chaudhary fired 10 rounds from a sten gun during the so-called encounter.

Earlier, Singhal had been reinstated by the state government with effect from May 16, the day Modi-led BJP won the Lok Sabha polls. Before Singhal, Police Inspector B A Patel, whose name was not included in the chargesheet, had been reinstated. They were all granted default bail by the court after CBI didn’t file the chargesheet. The CBI chargesheeted suspended ADGP P P Pandey, D G Vanzara (retd DIG), IPS G L Singhal, suspended DSP N K Amin and several others.