Investigations into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case have established that the 19-year-old Mumbai teenager and her three alleged associates had sustained a total of 80 bullet wounds during the “shootout” on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in the early hours of June 15, 2004. Investigators are still clueless about the firearms from which nine bullets were fired at the deceased persons.
While ballistic tests have established the identity of the weapons used in firing 71 bullets, the weapons that fired the nine spent rounds found on the spot could not ascertained, sources said.
Even the forensic expert who conducted ballistic tests of the weapons as well as the cartridges, in his statement recorded under the relevant section of the CrPC, told CBI officials: “Scientific examinations of certain empty cartridges recovered from the spot revealed that these were not fired from any police weapon.” This has been mentioned by the CBI in its chargesheet pertaining to the case filed recently before a court in Ahmedabad. “Agency sleuths are trying to ascertain the identity of the weapons from which nine cartridges were fired,” sources said.
The CBI probe has revealed that the firing on the deceased took place in two successive stages.