Ishrat Jahan case: IB, CBI chiefs hold meeting Home Secretary RK Singh

New Delhi: A meeting of chiefs of CBI and IB was held today following the probe agency’s decision to summon Special Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Secretary R K Singh which also saw a surprise presence of former CBI Chief A P Singh, who is at present member Union Public Service Commission, official sources said. [caption id=“attachment_869545” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ishrat Jahan. Ibnlive[/caption] The sources said while the IB Director Asif Ibrahim pressed for the need to maintain confidentiality in the ongoing probe, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha assured that the same would be done. Sinha said CBI had enough evidence to back the summons issued to Kumar, a 1979-batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IPS officer, seeking to examine him again in connection with the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case probe. In a related move, Kumar has sought exemption from appearance before CBI till Tuesday citing personal reasons. CBI had issued fresh notices to the officer under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure as previous examination of the officer was not satisfactory and replies given by him, the agency said, appeared diversionary. A decision about his custodial interrogation will be taken only after the fresh round of questioning. CBI sources said the agency plans to file charge sheet soon in connection with the fake encounter. During the last round of questioning which took place recently, the officer claimed that the input was genuine to the best of his knowledge and there was threat to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s life in the aftermath of 2002 riots from the terror groups, especially LeT. When asked about the encounter, the officer retorted at a CBI investigator saying giving input does not mean that police would start carrying out encounters. He said he did his duty by sending this alert and he was not at all involved in the encounter. The sources said the role of the officer, who was posted in State Intelligence Bureau in 2004, had come under the scanner of the agency for the alleged fake input. They said his statement would be crucial in finalising the charge sheet in the Ishrat Jahan case as he was alleged to have played a crucial role in generating an intelligence input about purported LeT plan of LeT to eliminate Modi. The CBI on the instruction of the Gujarat High Court took over the probe of the alleged fake encounter in which 19-year-old Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in Ahmedabad on 15 June, 2004 allegedly by a Crime Branch team led by DIG DG Vanzara. PTI