Sadiq Jamal encounter in Gujarat: CBI to question ex-IB officer

New Delhi: The probe into the alleged fake encounter case of Sadiq Jamal of 2003 in Gujarat will enter yet another phase with the CBI all set to question former Special Director of Intelligence Bureau Sudhir Kumar in connection with the case. Highly-placed sources in the agency said that Kumar, a 1968 batch IPS officer, would be called for questioning in the case and understanding the sequence of the events that led to the encounter. The input given by Kumar was the alleged reason behind the killing of Jamal, a resident of Bhavnagar city, by a team of Gujarat crime branch in an encounter near Galaxy Cinema on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on January 13, 2003. Kumar, who retired as member of Central Vigilance Commission, was posted as Special Director of Intelligence Bureau when this incident took place. [caption id=“attachment_991601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sadiq Jamal. IBN Live.[/caption] The sources did not rule out the possibility of questioning of the then Joint Director of IB’s operational cell who later become the head of the organisation. They said role of Kumar, who was handling Western Zone in the Intelligence Bureau at the agency headquarters, was under scanner of the agency for the alert that Jamal was a terrorist on a mission to eliminate VIPs in Gujarat. The CBI has already questioned a Maharashtra cadre officer of the rank of Joint Secretary twice and would now be summoning Sudhir Kumar and Rajendra Kumar. Jamal’s brother Shabir had sought further investigation into the alleged role played by then Joint Director (IB) Rajendra Kumar, former state Minister of State (MoS) for Home and the Chief Minister in the encounter. At that time, Gujarat Police had claimed that he was a terrorist who entered the city to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi and VHP leader Pravin Togadia, a claim similar to that made during the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. CBI has already filed one charge sheet in connection with the case and looking to unravel the larger conspiracy by filing a supplementary charge sheet. The agency has also made it clear that when it had filed the charge sheet in this case against eight accused on December 21, 2012, the investigation relating to the complicity, involvement of other persons in the commission of the crime had been kept pending and further investigation into the matter is under progress. On a petition filed by Shabir, the Gujarat High Court, had in 2011, directed CBI to take over the probe after filing a new FIR in the case. Shabir has alleged that as Sadik was killed as part of a political conspiracy. An intelligence report, dated January 6, 2003, of Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Mumbai is also under scanner of the agency in which it was allegedly claimed that Sadiq Jamal was a member of Dawood Ibrahim gang and had arrived to kill saffron party leaders to avenge 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. In this case, CBI has arrested, apart from ex-Mumbai scribe Ketan Tirodkar, eight Gujarat policemen, including Tarun Barot and J G Parmar who were also arraigned as accused in the 2004 Ishrat encounter case and three others. PTI