MHA rethinking handing over Ishrat files to CBI

The Home Ministry may seek exemption from producing the documents relating to the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case to the CBI and later in court.

The Home Ministry may seek exemption from producing the documents relating to the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case to the CBI and later in court.

HT Image

Government sources said the ministry believed handing over documents to the CBI might not be in the interest of national security. Law ministry sources, however, said they had not yet received any request from the home ministry to seek its opinion on the legal aspects of withholding information.

The CBI had earlier called for files related to affidavits filed by the home ministry's former under secretary RVS Mani in the high court. In the first affidavit, the home ministry had cited reliable information about a Lashkar-e-Taiba plan to assassinate top Gujarat leaders and opposed a CBI probe. In the second, it indicated the intelligence report couldn't be treated as conclusive.

A home ministry source indicated the security establishment could not have classified documents relating the secret affairs of the State placed in public domain. "There is a provision in the Evidence Act also where the state can seek privilege for such documents," he said.