The Union Home Ministry has turned down the Central Bureau of Investigation’s request for sanction to prosecute four intelligence officials, including former Intelligence Bureau Special Director Rajendra Kumar, in the Ishrat Jahan “fake” encounter case.
Refusing to divulge exact details of the grounds on which prosecution sanction has been denied, an MHA official said the decision has been taken following detailed examination of the documents submitted by the agency.
The CBI took over the case in January 2012 following a Gujarat High Court directive. The agency had in February last filed a supplementary charge sheet against Mr. Kumar — then posted as IB Joint Director — charging him with the murder of Ishrat and three others in an alleged staged encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004.
It was alleged that Ishrat, her friend Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh and two others, Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana, were shot dead by a Gujarat Crime Branch team on the basis of an intelligence input about Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists planning to target the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, which was purportedly generated through Mr. Kumar.
The other three serving IB officials were accused of involvement in the conspiracy, abduction and illegal confinement of Ishrat and three others.
A-G’s opinionHowever, in the supplementary charge sheet, the agency mentioned that the Attorney-General’s opinion on prosecution sanction was awaited. The Attorney-General opined that the agency could not prosecute the officials without prior approval from the competent authority [MHA] and that it was mandatory to obtain sanction under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Subsequently, the CBI submitted documents with the MHA seeking prosecution sanction and was, at least twice, asked to furnish more supporting papers to help the Ministry arrive at an informed decision. The case diary was also sought, to which the agency had initially raised objections.
The agency had filed the first charge sheet against the Gujarat Police officers and other accused in July 2013. Among those named were IPS officers D.G. Vanzara and P.P. Pandey. While almost all the accused are presently out on bail, accused N.K. Amin was reinstated as Deputy Superintendent of Police earlier this month.
