Gujarat fake encounter: Victim's father welcomes probe report

Father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, one of the four persons allegedly killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, on Tuesday hailed the judicial inquiry report that said they were victims of a 'fake encounter'.

"I always believed that the truth will be known one day," Javed's father Gopinatha Pillai told PTI from his home at Charaummood in Aalappuzha District, reacting to the findings of the investigation conducted by Magistrate S P Tamang of the Metropolitan Court in Ahmedabad [ Images ] on Monday.

Pillai said he was sure that his son was never part of any militant outfit.

Javed converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim girl Sajihta, whom Pillai's family knew while they were living in Pune. Sajitha and her three children are living in Pune now.

Javed and three others, including a college girl Ishrat Jahan, were killed in the 'encounter' by the Detection Crime Branch, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The Gujarat police had claimed that they had links with a militant outfit and were on a mission to 'kill' Chief Minister Narendra Modi [ Images ].