File photograph of Ishrat Jahan
An official from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today said the ministry is reportedly not convinced with the evidence gathered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against a senior Intelligence Bureau (IB) official in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The Intelligence Bureau reports to the MHA.
Ishrat, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Ghulam Shiekh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - all suspected to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists - were shot dead by the Gujarat Police on June 15, 2004 on an empty stretch of road between Gandhinagar and Ahemdabad. Later investigation showed that Johar and Rana were from Pakistan. The CBI investigating the case on the directive of the Gujarat High Court wants to charge the then Ahmedabad IB station chief Ranjendra Kumar for conspiracy to murder. The CBI's investigation is believed to have revealed that the shoot-out in which the four were killed was staged.
"The ministry is aware of the evidence collected by the CBI against Mr Kumar and we are of the view that it doesn't have enough to either arrest or prosecute Kumar," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.
"There is nothing in possession of the CBI which suggests that Kumar was involved in the shoot-out or in even in planning the shoot-out," the official added.
Despite the reservations of the MHA, the CBI has made clear that it will press charges against Mr Kumar who retires in month from now. Also, the CBI has made it clear that it does not need prior sanction from the MHA to press charges against Mr Kumar since a staged shoot-out cannot qualify as "official duty." The MHA, however, feels that prior sanction to prosecute a serving official is a must.
The MHA, which is backing the IB in this case, is concerned about the fall-out of the actions of the CBI. "It could mean that intelligence officials and agencies will, in future, be circumspect about sharing inputs about possible terror attacks with states," the official said.
The MHA maintains that the IB had launched a covert operation and had been able to penetrate the LeT module well in advance and was able to prevent the module from launching the attack. It also maintains that the IB had passed on the input to the Gujarat Police about the movements of the module for further action.