A Special Investigation Team in Kerala is looking into the death of Gopinath Pillai, reports said on Sunday. Pillai, a petitioner in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, died in a road accident in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Friday. His son was also killed in the alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004.
“So far, we have not found evidence that suggests foul play in his death,” Pattanakad Sub Inspector B Shajimon, who is part of the Special Investigation Team, told The News Minute. He said forensic experts were checking the evidence. “We have taken custody of the vehicles involved in the accident.”
Sijeev Pattanakkad, the driver of the truck that rammed into Pillai’s car on Wednesday, is in police custody, Mathrubhumi reported. Pillai, 77, was travelling with his brother when the vehicle crashed into their’s. He died of multiple fractures on Friday morning.
His son Pranesh Pillai, alias Javed Sheikh, was among the four people killed in the encounter near Ahmedabad in June 2004. The Gujarat Police had claimed that the four had links with terrorist groups and were conspiring to kill Narendra Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat.
However, a Special Investigation Team set up by the Gujarat High Court said the encounter was fake. The case was then transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
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