The one-man enquiry panel probing the missing files related to Ishrat Jahan case submitted its report to the Home Ministry on Wednesday saying the files and documents went missing when it was being routed from the then Home Minister’s office to the then Joint Secretary handling the Internal Security Division. The report submitted by Additional Secretary BK Prasad said the papers were "removed knowingly or unknowingly or misplaced" between September 18 and 28 in 2009.
Only one paper out of the five documents related to the controversial alleged Ishrat fake encounter case that went missing from the Home Ministry was found, said Prasad in his enquiry report submitted to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.
"It is evident that the documents were removed knowingly or unknowingly or misplaced," the enquiry committee has concluded. P Chidambaram was the Home Minister then but the enquiry panel made no reference to him or anyone in the then UPA Government.
Based on the statements of 11 serving and retired officers, including the then Home Secretary GK Pillai, the 52 -page report said the documents went missing between September 18 and 28, 2009. The second affidavit, which was different from the first one, and filed before Gujarat High Court on September 29, 2009, had said there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that Ishrat was an leT operative.
The paper which was retrieved from a computer hard disk was the letter sent by the then Home Secretary to the AG on September 18, 2009. Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The Gujarat Police had then said those killed in the encounters were leT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile in a rare instance, the Home Ministry has asked an RTI applicant to prove he is an Indian before disclosing details about the one-member panel. The RTI application was filed with the Ministry seeking copies of reports submitted by the panel besides file notings related to extension in service given to Prasad.
"In this connection, it is requested that a proof of your Indian citizenship may please be provided," the Home Ministry said in its reply. As per Right to Information Act, 2005, only Indian citizens can seek information.
Usually, a proof of citizenship is not required to file an application under the transparency law. In rare cases, a public information officer can seek proof of nationality in case he has doubt over citizenship of an applicant.
"It is a way to block free flow of information and transparency by the government. Seeking proof of Indian citizenship must be discouraged. The Home Ministry appears to delay the information sought from it," said RTI activist Ajay Dubey.