CBI seeks ministry view on naming IB former official

The CBI appears to be going ahead with the naming of a former Intelligence Bureau official in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case as it sought the opinion of the Law Ministry on whether they need sanction for prosecuting him though he is not in service at present.

CBI officials said the supplementary charge  sheet has been finalised but there were two opinions in the agency about the need for prosecution sanction. Investigators may not name Amit Shah, close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the case as they have not been able to find any tangible evidence against him.

In a statement, the CBI said no final decision has been taken on the Ishrat Jahan encounter case supplementary charge sheet. “No final decision for filing of the supplementary charge sheet has been taken as yet. The matter is still under consideration.” In its first charge sheet, the CBI had named seven Gujarat Police officers accusing them of murder and criminal conspiracy regarding the encounter killing of 19-year-old Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Johar and Rana on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004.

IB Special Director Rajinder Kumar’s name cropped up during the investigation and he is accused of generating intelligence input about the four youth who were killed in the encounter. Allegedly, his input claimed that they were LeT operatives and came to Gujarat to kill Modi.

Investigators said they have enough evidence about the role of IB officers in the conspiracy behind the encounter. However, there were different views on whether sanction from the Home Ministry is needed to prosecute Kumar, who retired earlier this year.

One section of senior officials view that as Kumar was in active service at the time of the alleged crime, sanction for his prosecution is needed from the Home Ministry, which is the cadre controlling authority.

 Another opinion was that since he retired from service, the agency could go ahead with its charge sheet without sanction.

Officials said they do not want to be embarassed later as it happened in Adarsh scam case and so the matter was referred to the Law Ministry for clarity.