Ishrat’s friend Javed Shaikh was police informer, his father says

Ajay Umat & Saeed Khan, TNN Jul 9, 2013, 03.31AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, who was killed along with Ishrat Jahan and two others in a fake encounter in 2004, was a Gujarat police informer working for a "desh bhakt" (patriot) officer, claims his father Gopinath Pillai.

Pillai looks after rubber farms at Noornad in Kerala. He said his son had told him over telephone that he had come to Gujarat on what was to be his last visit on being summoned by the same senior officer for whom he used to work.

On what business Shaikh may have with Gujarat police, Pillai said, "He was running a business of perfume and clothes. During such visits, he may have come in contact with the police officer. He told me he helped police, and in return, police helped him. I did not know who that senior cop was. But my son said he had very good relations with that officer. He said the officer was a desh bhakt."

Pillai has come to Ahmedabad on hearing about the chargesheet filed by the CBI.

Shaikh talked about his connection with Gujarat police when he visited his father in Kerala towards the end of May 2004, just a few days before his last Ahmedabad trip. "He had told me this senior officer would be of great help in future in setting up a travel agency," Pillai said about his son's motive behind working for cops.

When Shaikh left Kerala, he stopped calling his father a couple of days later. Hence, Pillai called him. Shaikh was in Ahmednagar then, where he was planning to relocate. "I got the feeling that he was scared. I asked him what was wrong because his voice was trembling — almost as if someone had put a vibrator in his mouth. He told me a senior cop from Ahmedabad had summoned him."

Pillai is unable to digest the terrorist tag cops have given his son, "How can he be a terrorist? He became a Muslim to marry a Muslim girl. There was nothing more than this."

Javed met Ishrat in Mumbra

Javed came in touch with Ishrat during his stint as an electrical sub-contractor in Mumbra. Javed first came in touch with Ishrat's father, said Gopinath Pillai. "On his deathbed, Ishrat's father requested Pranesh (alias Javed) to help his daughter in her studies as she was a very bright girl. He wanted to see her become a doctor. Pranesh accepted the responsibility and paid her fees for Khalsa college," Pillai said. He added the girl was just an eight-year-old then. He also said his son was keen on securing a job for Ishrat.

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