In a controversial move, the CBI on Tuesday questioned Intelligence Bureau (IB) special director Rajinder Kumar in connection with his alleged role in the encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others by Ahmedabad Police in 2004. Kumar’s questioning took place at an unspecified location in Gandhinagar.
This is for the first time that a top official of the IB was interrogated by the CBI in a criminal case. In 2004, the IB had provided input to the Gujarat Police that Ishrat and her accomplices were linked to Pakistan-based leT and plotted to attack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Sources in CBI said that the IB official was questioned for long hours near Gandhinagar with regard to his alleged role leading to the encounter. During the interrogation he kept on repeating that he didn’t remember smaller details as the incident occurred around a decade back, they said.
The 1979-batch IPS officer belongs to Manipur-Tripura cadre allegedly generated intelligence input that a group of terrorists were coming to Ahmedabad to target Modi, said a CBI official. According to him Kumar continuously maintained that the intelligence input given by him was genuine and never intended to carry out the encounter.
The CBI’s summon to Kumar has created major rift between the CBI and IB.While IB strongly opposed the move arguing that criminal “ motives” could not be attacked to such inputs. CBI director Ranjit Sinha has claimed that the agency had concret evidence to establish that Kumar was part of the conspiracy that led to the fake encounter of four people.
Meanwehile, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to file a chargesheet by July 4 in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The court ordered the investigation agency to file a compliance report by July 26 when the next hearing of the case is scheduled.
A division bench of justice Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari directed the investigating agency that it must focus on the chain of events that led to encounter by Gujarat Police instead of determining whether they were terrorist or not. “CBI has been assigned to ascertain whether they were it was a genuine encounter or a fake one and whether they were in prior custody of Gujarat Police or not,” remarked the court.
In the prior hearing last week, the judges also remarked, “The court is not concerned whether Ishrat and the other three were terrorists or normal human beings. In any case they should not been liquidated.”
Meanwhile, the high court allowed CBI’s plea to drop IPS officer Satish Verma from the case probe. Verma will rejoin Gujarat Police on June 24, but continue to deliver his service to CBI till 23rd June.