Ishrat case: CBI summons Intelligence Bureau boss

The central bureau of investigation (CBI) has again summoned for questioning central Intelligence Bureau’s special director Rajinder Kumar in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. HT reports.

The CBI has once again summoned Intelligence Bureau (IB) special director Rajinder Kumar in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case for questioning. Kumar, an IPS officer of 1979 batch of Manipur-Tripura cadre, has been questioned earlier by investigators. CBI sources said there have been few more issues that needed clarification.

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His questioning has not gone down too well with IB officials, who have been questioning CBI’s process in probing the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

CBI sources, however, claim that Kumar allegedly conspired with Gujarat police officers when he issued an intelligence alert about a Lashkar-e-Taiba hit squad being on the prowl to kill chief minister Narendra Modi and other Hindutva leaders. And subsequently, four persons including Ishrat Jahan were killed in an alleged fake encounter on June 14, 2004.

Besides Rajinder Kumar, Gujarat’s additional DGP PP Pandey is also under CBI’s lens.

Pandey, a 1982 batch IPS officer, faces imminent arrest in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case as the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed his plea for quashing of FIR and protection against a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him by a CBI court.

While dismissing Pandey’s plea filed under Article 32 (which enables a person to directly approach the apex court for protection of fundamental rights), the bench, however, gave him liberty to go to the high court. A CBI court in Gujarat had issued an NBW against Pandey on May 2 for failing to respond to the CBI summons.