Ishrat case: Pillai may be examined on missing files

Former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai may be examined by a one-man inquiry panel, probing the issue of missing files related to the case of alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat.

“The panel will examine all officers – serving or retired –  who have dealt with the Ishrat Jahan files,” an official privy to the deliberations in the Home Ministry said.

Pillai was Union Home Secretary when the then Home Ministry had filed two contradictory affidavits in the Gujarat high court in 2009 in the Ishrat case.

The inquiry, by Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry BK Prasad, was ordered by the Home Ministry, after it was found that some papers related to the Ishrat Jahan case went missing.

The probe panel has been mandated to inquire into the circumstances, in which the files related to the case went missing. The panel will find out the person responsible for keeping the files and relevant issues.

The papers, which went missing from the Home Ministry, include the copy of an affidavit vetted by the Attorney General and submitted in the Gujarat High Court in 2009 and the draft of the second affidavit vetted by the AG on which changes were made.