The CBI's chargesheet on 19-year-old Mumbai student Ishrat Jahan's killing has revived political sparring over the alleged fake encounter by Gujarat cops on chief minister Narendra Modi's watch.
On June 15, 2004, Ishrat was gunned down along with three others at a deserted stretch of road just outside Ahmedabad. The cops involved in the encounter said she was part of a terror plot to kill Modi.
The CBI has now alleged that Ishrat was abducted and killed in cold blood. It has charged seven policemen with murder.
A second year science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa college, Ishrat was the second of seven siblings and - by her mother's account - her father's favourite.
Chasing dreams of a better life, the family moved into the Muslim-dominated area of Mumbra in Mumbai when Ishrat was just five. Shamim, a construction worker, saw daughter Ishrat as the one who would make the family proud one day.
But his death forced 17-year-old Ishrat to take up tuitions and embroidery work to support the family.
Desperate for a job, Ishrat worked as a secretary to Javed Sheikh or Pranesh Pillai, who was killed in the same encounter.
According to Ishrat's family, Javed often took her out of town for work. The last time Ishrat spoke to her mother was from Nashik, where she had reportedly gone to meet Javed. Three days later, she was lying dead on a road in a striped orange salwar kurta, gunned down with three others.
The CBI says Javed and Ishrat were picked up at a checkpost, kept illegally at a farmhouse, sedated and then shot dead in a joint operation by the Gujarat police and the state intelligence bureau.
Almost a decade since her killing, Ishrat's family continues to fight against the terrorist tag that has haunted them every day of their lives.
On June 15, 2004, Ishrat was gunned down along with three others at a deserted stretch of road just outside Ahmedabad. The cops involved in the encounter said she was part of a terror plot to kill Modi.
The CBI has now alleged that Ishrat was abducted and killed in cold blood. It has charged seven policemen with murder.
A second year science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa college, Ishrat was the second of seven siblings and - by her mother's account - her father's favourite.
Chasing dreams of a better life, the family moved into the Muslim-dominated area of Mumbra in Mumbai when Ishrat was just five. Shamim, a construction worker, saw daughter Ishrat as the one who would make the family proud one day.
But his death forced 17-year-old Ishrat to take up tuitions and embroidery work to support the family.
Desperate for a job, Ishrat worked as a secretary to Javed Sheikh or Pranesh Pillai, who was killed in the same encounter.
According to Ishrat's family, Javed often took her out of town for work. The last time Ishrat spoke to her mother was from Nashik, where she had reportedly gone to meet Javed. Three days later, she was lying dead on a road in a striped orange salwar kurta, gunned down with three others.
The CBI says Javed and Ishrat were picked up at a checkpost, kept illegally at a farmhouse, sedated and then shot dead in a joint operation by the Gujarat police and the state intelligence bureau.
Almost a decade since her killing, Ishrat's family continues to fight against the terrorist tag that has haunted them every day of their lives.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
