In a development that could stall prosecution of four Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter, the home ministry and the CBI are on a collision course over sharing of the case diary.
The home ministry on Monday insisted that it would need the CBI’s case diary to decide if the government should sanction prosecution of the four officers including a retired special director, IB. The CBI, however, insists only the courts were entitled to examine its case diary under the law.
“Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an investigating agency cannot share its case diary with any authority,” said a CBI official.
The case diary records key events and findings in a probe.
The CBI had earlier charged eight Gujarat police officials of executing the “fake encounter” on June 15, 2004 along with the four IB officers for killing four people including Ishrat Jahan in “cold blood”.