‘Ex IB officer was brain behind Ishrat affidavit’
10 Feb 2014 12:48 AM GMT
The then under secretary in the home ministry, RVS Mani, gave two affidavits before the Gujarat high court in less than two months, contradicting opinions on the antecedents of Ishrat, they said. While the affidavit filed on 6 August 2009 stated that Ishrat and three others were terrorists, in the one filed on 30 September 2009, Mani claimed that there was no conclusive evidence to suggest she was a terrorist.
The agency has alleged that the affidavit of 6 August 2009 was the work of Kumar who was apprehensive of his role coming under scrutiny in case a detailed probe was carried out in the encounter — which CBI has termed as fake.
CBI sources said the supplementary chargesheet, which is also the concluding one in the case unless directed by the competent court, filed by the agency this week does not go into the antecedents of Ishrat.
‘Nothing changes the fact that it was a joint counterterror operation of IB and Gujarat Police which was turned into a staged encounter. The antecedents of four victims do not change the fact that it was a fake encounter,’ a senior CBI officer said.
Nearly a decade after Ishrat was murdered along with her friend Javed Sheikh alias Parnesh Pillai in Gujarat and two others believed to be Pakistani nationals, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet naming Kumar, who was the then joint director of IB and posted in Gujarat.
He was charged with 120-B (criminal conspiracy) for 302 (murder) and other sections of Indian Penal Code besides various provisions of the Arms Act. Kumar has been additionally charged under Arms Act with CBI alleging that he had provided arms to the accused on 14 June 2004, a day before the encounter took place.
The CBI alleged in its supplementary chargesheet that Kumar, who was the then joint director of IB, handed over arms and ammunition to G Singhal of Gujarat Police who passed them to Tarun Barot through Nizamuddin Sayeed. These arms and ammunition were used in executing the crime. Along with Kumar, those named in the charge sheet are serving officers P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede.
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