Statement vindicated Gujarat cops’ stand: DG Vanzara

Retired police office D.G. Vanzara on Thursday said that Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley’s statement that Ishrat Jahan was working for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is very significant. “It may be used as evidence by the Gujarat police, who are victims of a political conspiracy, in the cases against them,” he said.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student, and three others were killed in 2004 in an alleged fake encounter by the police in Gujarat.

Mr Vanzara, who was DCP with the city crime branch when the encounter took place, was granted bail by a Mumbai court in February last year. As he is barred from entering Gujarat by the court, he resides in Mumbai presently.

“Headley’s deposition has vindicated the Gujarat police’s stand that Ishrat was a terrorist and the encounter in which she was killed was genuine. We will decide in due course whether to use his statement or not,” said Mr Vanzara.

When asked what had transpired on that fateful day, Mr Vanzara said that matter was sub-judice.

“I won’t like to go into details. Of the four terrorists killed, two were Pakistanis. Despite this there has been talk only about Ishrat. What was she doing with these terrorists ”

However, Mr Vanzara refused to name those who were allegedly victimising the Gujarat police. “But political parties and NGOs conspired against us, due to which we were sent to jail,” he added.

“Ishrat was a terrorist. There was no doubt about it. There were inputs from central agencies that they were terrorists. And during the gun battle, the police fired back only when bullets were fired at them. However, the encounter was politicised and the Gujarat police were targeted,” said the retired police officer.