Mother says Ishrat knew Javed: Police

Under fire after they shot dead four alleged LeT operatives in a pre-dawn encounter here, Gujarat police today claimed they had dug out a li...

Under fire after they shot dead four alleged LeT operatives in a pre-dawn encounter here, Gujarat police today claimed they had dug out a link between two of those killed last Tuesday—Mumbra’s Ishrat Jahan and Pune’s Javed Sheikh.

Crime Branch officials released transcripts of their interrogation session yesterday with Ishrat’s mother, Shamima, in which she admits that her daughter used to work in an office owned by Javed and went to Lucknow with him twice for business-related work.

However, Shamima told reporters in Mumbra today that the Ahmedabad police had blackmailed her into giving a statement on her daughter’s links with Javed. ‘‘They told me that if I did not give a statement saying Javed and Ishrat knew each other, I wouldn’t get custody of my daughter’s body,’’ she said, before her daughter’s funeral.

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In the interrogation transcripts, Shamima is quoted as saying that Ishrat first went to Lucknow with Javed for a week, and then for about 4-5 days. On the last occasion, the third time Ishrat had left on such a trip, she stepped out of her house on June 11 (Friday) at 6am, Shamima told police.

According to her, Javed and Rashid, a neighbour known to the family, may have deceived Ishrat and got her into the wrong business. It was Rashid who used to inform Ishrat about the trips, she is quoted as saying. Besides, Javed always contacted Ishrat either through Rashid’s cellphone or the public booth near their Mumbra house, Shamima told police.

She added that Ishrat had told her after returning from her previous two trips that she had stayed with Javed’s relatives in Lucknow.

According to the transcripts, Shamima told the police that Ishrat was working on a monthly salary of Rs 3,000 in an office owned by Javed in Mumbai—her work was computer-related.