With the CBI targeting Special IB Director Rajendra Kumar in the alleged fake Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the operations branch of the Intelligence agency could take a severe hit, insiders apprehend.
The sources said even if inputs are generated, officials would hardly undertake any operation in the wake of the stand-off between the CBI and the IB over the genuineness of the input that led to the encounter of “known lashkar terrorists”. IB insiders said the flow of information particularly on Islamic terror network has already been hit.
Kumar is a solid IB hand with an experience of about three decades, an expert on Pakistan affairs and has also served in Punjab. The CBI’s pursuit of the IB top gun has already tarnished the reputation of the agency. It has also come at a time when the IB Director is yet to win over the confidence of the officials and the Home Minister has not been able have grip over the Ministry. Add to it, the new Home Secretary is yet to settle down in the Ministry.
Fingers are also being pointed at the IB, under its present chief, for a series of intelligence failures particularly on the Naxal front, sources said. They said the entire police establishment is in bad shape with key posts remaining vacant. The Government is yet to appoint DG of NIA and NDRF. Chiefs of CRPF and CISF are also retiring but their successors have not been named.
The morale of IB officers has hit a new low after this controversy. The appointment of Syed Asif Ibrahim as the IB chief, which Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said was done because he is a Muslim, had already led to officials’ sagging morale. Ibrahim was given the slot by superseding 4 senior officers including then Special Director Yashovardhan Jha Azad.
The pressure against Rajendra Kumar was being built up over the last few months through “selective leaks” of his alleged involvement in generating a “fake” input leading to the encounter of Ishrat and three other lashkar terrorists, sources pointed out. Factionalism is being witnessed at the top with one group being led by Ibrahim and his confidants and the others opposing controversial steps being undertaken by the agency, insiders said.
The IB has seemingly dropped the “jehadi terrorism” from its lexicon. The 130-page agenda notes prepared by the agency for the Union Home Ministry for the CMs conference on internal security held last month do not find a mention even once. The notes have dealt with terror situation in Jammu & Kashmir, insurgency in North-East and Naxalism but do not specifically mention jehadi terrorism. Reports prepared in the preceding years have been prominently mentioning jehadi terrorism, revival of Sikh militancy and role of Islamis outfits like the Students Islamic Movement of India.
At the CMs conference on internal security on June 6, Modi had urged the PM not to use the agencies to target him instead the Congress should counter him politically. CBI’s functioning and its misuse by the political masters of the UPA Government is already under the scanner of the Supreme Court.
The agency has a dedicated cadre of men and officers drawn from the State police forces and the IPS who have joined the agency leaving aside the lucre of policing. They act in a faceless manner without getting credit for doing the secret jobs. The IB is already facing shortage of officers and nobody will be willing to join its ranks in the wake of the latest controversy, a top IB official said pointing to the bleak future of the agency ahead.