The Home Ministry has sought an opinion from the law Ministry on the CBI’s request for certain files related to Ishrat Jahan’s antecedents.
Sources said the agency had sought files related to affidavits filed by Undersecretary RVS Mani in Gujarat High Court in 2009, within a span of two months, which gave contradictory versions. The law Ministry has been asked whether this confidential information is relevant to the investigation.
In the affidavit filed on August 6, 2009, Ishrat and three others were termed terrorists and the encounter was considered genuine. However, in a second affidavit filed on September 30 in the same year, the Ministry of Home Affairs was silent on the encounter while indicating Ishrat and three others’ links with terror outfits. Mani had been questioned by the CBI on this flip-flop but could not give a satisfactory reply. Reportedly, he filed a complaint to his superiors about the CBI officials’ attitude, alleging coercion.
According to sources, files related to inputs which had become the basis for change in the MHA’s stance could provide a clear picture to the CBI on why opinion was changed over such a short period. They added that the files could also reveal the role of people who may have been interested in portraying Ishrat as a terrorist. The agency, in its chargesheet, has not given antecedents of any of the four killed in the encounter nine years ago, but might do so in the next chargesheet.
Meanwhile, Ishrat’s family on Thursday claimed a threat to their lives and demanded adequate security. Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kauser, through her lawyer, wrote to Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami, saying there was a “grave threat to life, liberty and security” for her, her children as well as Rauf lala and Mohinuddin Ismail Sayed, who have been supporting her fight for justice.