New Delhi:
CBI is likely to question Intelligence Bureau (IB) Special Director Rajinder Kumar on Tuesday in connection with its probe into the killing of college student Ishrat Jahan in a fake encounter as the agency plans to finalise its charge sheet in the case.
Kumar, who had already been questioned by the agency once, would be examined again at the CBI's Ahmedabad office for his alleged role in the fake encounter case in which 19-year old Ishrat was killed along with four others on June 15, 2004 by a team of Crime Branch officials on Ahmedabad's outskirts.
The agency wants to question Kumar, a 1979-Batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, as it claims to have evidence about his alleged involvement in the conspiracy.
The sources said the officer had claimed in his defence that the intelligence input given by him which led to the encounter was a genuine one and giving input does not mean that he directed the police to carry out the encounter.
Gujarat police had alleged Ishrat was part of a terror outfit LeT module aiming to take the life of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the sources said. However, the agency is not concentrating merely on the intelligence input and that they have enough leads which indicate Kumar's alleged involvement in the conspiracy leading to the encounter found to be fake by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) constituted by the Gujarat High Court.
The sources said the focus of the agency's probe has been whether intelligence officers were active participants in the conspiracy behind the fake encounter.
CBI's move to question Kumar had strained its relations with IB and Union Home Secretary R K Singh had to convene a meeting of CBI Director Ranjit Sinha and IB Chief Asif Ibrahim to discuss the issue in detail.
CBI had issued fresh notices to the officer under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure as a previous examination of the officer was not satisfactory and replies given by him, the agency said, appeared diversionary.