By Kartikeya Tanna on
Late last night, a DD News report stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is not convinced about CBI having proof against the IB officer Rajinder Kumar in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. In order to obtain sanction to prosecute Kumar, CBI had presented evidence against Kumar to the MHA. Upon examining the evidence, the MHA contested CBI’s claim that Kumar was a co-conspirator in the encounter that took place in 2004.
NDTV further reported that the MHA has maintained that IB had launched a covert operation because of which it had been able to penetrate the LeT module well in advance and take preventive action.
These reports fly in the face of CBI’s allegations recently leaked to NDTV and Tehelka that Kumar engineered this entire encounter. Moreover, the NDTV report, if true, reiterates the fact that, according to MHA, Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were very much a part of the LeT.
Indeed, in MHA’s first affidavit before the Gujarat High Court on
August 6, 2009, it had vehemently stated that Ishrat and her aides were
carrying out a task assigned to them by the LeT. Although MHA filed
another affidavit within two months, on September 30, 2009, one which
generated a lot of controversy, it did not retract on the LeT connection
of the deceased.
There were actually two operative differences in the later affidavit. The first was an additional submission wherein the MHA stated that simply because agencies provided input to the Gujarat Government on them did not automatically confer on Gujarat police the right to kill them in cold blood. The second was the submission that it had no objections to an independent inquiry being carried out by the CBI or another agency. The latter was the only real 180-degree shift in MHA’s stance.
As readers would recollect, in the first affidavit, MHA had stated (Para 32) that “no proposal for CBI investigation into the case is under the consideration of the Central Government nor does it consider the present case fit for investigation by CBI” [emphasis supplied]. The reason MHA didn’t consider the case fit for CBI probe has been stated in elaborate detail in the affidavit.
Those interested in reading MHA’s first affidavit which outlines critical background details of all four may click here (PDF file).
While this shift in the later affidavit indicates, in a way, the commencement of the “politicisation” of the probe into the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, some facts surrounding the first affidavit are worth understanding.
Back in 2011, an Indian Express report disclosed that this affidavit was cleared for submission by MHA as back as on January 28, 2005, but was not placed before High Court by UPA’s counsel – the Assistant Solicitor General Pankaj Champaneri. As the report further notes, the MHA inquired with Champaneri about the delay, which the latter confirmed. All this is available on MHA files, the report added.
Who told Champaneri to delay filing the affidavit and why he did not file has not been known. The author has learnt that Champaneri is no longer representing the UPA in this matter.
There is another revealing fact which indicates the level of inconvenience the political bosses must have felt due to this affidavit. In 2009, both the DNA and Times of India reported that a senior official in the Law Ministry was removed from his post, possibly due to the embarrassment that this affidavit generated. The reason that sources gave to both these papers was that the Law Ministry was angry that the official had failed to bring the affidavit to its notice.
Who the official was and whether he was given any punishment is not yet known.
However, both facts which remained buried in news archives until now, as well as Friday’s development, reveal a deepening divide between those interested in settling political scores with Modi and those in the Government, particularly in the MHA, who are not very pleased with how the CBI is hounding, and perhaps, destroying the Intelligence Bureau – both in courts and in media.
How this matter plays out in the next few months remains to be seen. The CBI has been asked to file a status report and charge sheet in early July. However, there can be little quarrel with the fact that this proxy political war launched by the Congress has seriously vitiated the CBI probe.
Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/29/cbi-allegations-proved-false-97299.html
Late last night, a DD News report stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is not convinced about CBI having proof against the IB officer Rajinder Kumar in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. In order to obtain sanction to prosecute Kumar, CBI had presented evidence against Kumar to the MHA. Upon examining the evidence, the MHA contested CBI’s claim that Kumar was a co-conspirator in the encounter that took place in 2004.
NDTV further reported that the MHA has maintained that IB had launched a covert operation because of which it had been able to penetrate the LeT module well in advance and take preventive action.
These reports fly in the face of CBI’s allegations recently leaked to NDTV and Tehelka that Kumar engineered this entire encounter. Moreover, the NDTV report, if true, reiterates the fact that, according to MHA, Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were very much a part of the LeT.
There were actually two operative differences in the later affidavit. The first was an additional submission wherein the MHA stated that simply because agencies provided input to the Gujarat Government on them did not automatically confer on Gujarat police the right to kill them in cold blood. The second was the submission that it had no objections to an independent inquiry being carried out by the CBI or another agency. The latter was the only real 180-degree shift in MHA’s stance.
As readers would recollect, in the first affidavit, MHA had stated (Para 32) that “no proposal for CBI investigation into the case is under the consideration of the Central Government nor does it consider the present case fit for investigation by CBI” [emphasis supplied]. The reason MHA didn’t consider the case fit for CBI probe has been stated in elaborate detail in the affidavit.
Those interested in reading MHA’s first affidavit which outlines critical background details of all four may click here (PDF file).
While this shift in the later affidavit indicates, in a way, the commencement of the “politicisation” of the probe into the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, some facts surrounding the first affidavit are worth understanding.
Back in 2011, an Indian Express report disclosed that this affidavit was cleared for submission by MHA as back as on January 28, 2005, but was not placed before High Court by UPA’s counsel – the Assistant Solicitor General Pankaj Champaneri. As the report further notes, the MHA inquired with Champaneri about the delay, which the latter confirmed. All this is available on MHA files, the report added.
Who told Champaneri to delay filing the affidavit and why he did not file has not been known. The author has learnt that Champaneri is no longer representing the UPA in this matter.
There is another revealing fact which indicates the level of inconvenience the political bosses must have felt due to this affidavit. In 2009, both the DNA and Times of India reported that a senior official in the Law Ministry was removed from his post, possibly due to the embarrassment that this affidavit generated. The reason that sources gave to both these papers was that the Law Ministry was angry that the official had failed to bring the affidavit to its notice.
Who the official was and whether he was given any punishment is not yet known.
However, both facts which remained buried in news archives until now, as well as Friday’s development, reveal a deepening divide between those interested in settling political scores with Modi and those in the Government, particularly in the MHA, who are not very pleased with how the CBI is hounding, and perhaps, destroying the Intelligence Bureau – both in courts and in media.
How this matter plays out in the next few months remains to be seen. The CBI has been asked to file a status report and charge sheet in early July. However, there can be little quarrel with the fact that this proxy political war launched by the Congress has seriously vitiated the CBI probe.
Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/29/cbi-allegations-proved-false-97299.html
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