Ishrat Jahan encounter case: CBI gives documents to Law Ministry

New Delhi, Feb 4:

has provided to the Law Ministry additional documents and fresh submissions for an opinion on whether sanction is needed to prosecute Intelligence Bureau officers in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Top CBI sources said fresh set of documents as desired by the Ministry have been provided to know whether it needs sanction of the Home Ministry to prosecute four IB officials in the fake encounter case. The sources, however, clarified that their supplementary charge sheet is almost ready and if the Law Ministry does not give timely advice, it might consider proceeding ahead with filing of the final report before the competent court.

The government's legal arm had told CBI to bring sufficient documents before a legal opinion can be provided on whether prior sanction is required to prosecute Special Director Rajinder Kumar (now retired), and three other officers -- P Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede.

CBI had recently approached the Law Ministry through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking its opinion on the issue. It is learnt that when the Ministry demanded the documents, CBI informed it that it would share the documents with the Attorney General but could not give copies as the papers were sensitive in nature.

CBI says it has gathered enough evidence about the alleged role of the IB officers in the conspiracy behind the encounter but there are contrary views on whether sanction from the Home Ministry is needed to prosecute them. One view is that since Kumar was in active service at the time of the alleged crime, sanction for his prosecution is needed from the Home Ministry, which is the cadre controlling authority. Another opinion is that since he retired from service in July this year, the agency could go ahead with its charge sheet without any need for a sanction to prosecute.

PTI