Ishrat case: CBI, MHA spar over granting sanction to IB officials

New Delhi: Home Ministry and CBI are at loggerheads over granting sanction to four Intelligence Bureau officials in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case with the ministry demanding the case diary before the nod can be given and the probe agency deciding to seek legal opinion on the demand.

Home Ministry sources said the ministry had sought certain documents from CBI saying no sanction will be accorded without proper application of mind for which material available on record is required.

CBI, however, said legal opinion will be taken whether the case diary can be handed over or not to Home Ministry.

Courtesy: ibn live

CBI has sought sanction from Home Ministry to prosecute Special Director Rajinder Kumar (now retired) and three other officers P Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede in connection with the fake encounter killing of college student Ishrat, in which the charge sheet has been filed after completion of the investigation.

According to the law, a case diary which is maintained by the Investigating officer can be shared only with the court.

Under the provision of Section 172 CrPC, every police officer conducting an investigation maintains a record of the probe done on each day in a case diary in a prescribed format.

These diaries are important record of investigation carried out by an Investigating Officer. Any court may send for the case diary of a case under inquiry or trial in such court and may use such diaries, not as evidence in the case, but to aid it in such inquiry or trial.

"We provide the sanctioning authorities with details of the case. We also have meetings with them to explain our case and provide them with material related to the case. However, the case diary per se is neither asked for by an authority nor is shared with them. It is strange that MHA is seeking the case diary in this case. We will take legal opinion on the issue," a senior officer said.

While IB, which comes under MHA, believes Ishrat Jahan encounter, in which the 19-year old student along with three others, was killed by Gujarat crime branch in Ahmedabad in June 2004, was a genuine counter-terror operation, CBI believes otherwise.

PTI