The home ministry’s affidavit, now a visible cause of consternation for the Centre, inadvertently supports the Gujarat police line that the encounter was genuine.
An upset home ministry is contemplating “action” against the official who had apparently filed the affidavit on the basis of Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs from Gujarat.
The government is also verifying “the inputs” provided by a senior IB official, which apparently led the home ministry officials to prepare “the embarrassing affidavit”. “A new affidavit is likely to be in place soon to salvage the situation,” sources told Deccan Herald.
The affidavit filed by an under-secretary (internal security) in defence of a plea to institute a CBI inquiry into the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, has been repeatedly quoted by the Gujarat government to defend the encounter in which, besides the 19-year-old Ishrat, three others were killed.
A magisterial probe in Gujarat recently concluded that the encounter was fake. Magistrate S P Tamang, who conducted the inquiry, submitted his report to the chief judicial magistrate and named several top IPS officers as part of the conspiracy to fake the encounter.
The home ministry affidavit was filed on August 6 before the Gujarat High Court, on the encounter of Ishrat, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Shaikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar and supports the version of the Gujarat police.
The affidavit was filed on a plea by Ishrat’s mother for a CBI probe. The Gujarat government is appealing against the magistrate’s inquiry report on the encounter that took place on June 15, 2004, under the supervision of the now jailed IPS officer D G Vanzara, allegedly also involved in another encounter killings in the state.
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