‘Chased’ by CBI for refusing to frame seniors, former MHA official tells SC

Mani contended that during his interrogation on June 22, 2013, Verma tried to intimidate him.

The row between CBI and Intelligence Bureau (IB) over Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case has witnessed another twist, as a former Home Ministry official alleged in the Supreme Court that he was being “continuously chased and stalked” by CBI officials, including a recently posted woman IPS officer, for his refusal to frame his seniors.

Former under-secretary in Internal Security Division R V S Mani, said in his affidavit that he was “mentally and administratively harassed continuously” after he filed a note in June 2013. In this note, he disclosed he was allegedly coerced by Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma — who was a part of the CBI-SIT team probing the fake encounter case — to sign a false statement to implicate his seniors.

“I state that from the very beginning viz the deponent (Mani) placing the above referred note in the official records till now, the deponent was continuously called, chased and stalked by many senior CBI officers, including one senior-level IPS officer recently posted in the CBI,” read his affidavit, which would be taken up by the court Friday.

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Mani, who is presently posted with the Ministry of Urban Development, contended that during his interrogation on June 22, 2013, Verma tried to intimidate him but he refused to endorse the statement framed by Verma. He reported the matter to seniors in the ministry, who forwarded it to the MHA in June 2013. Mani has filed this affidavit in response to a notice by the court on a petition by suspended Gujarat cadre IPS officer N K Amin, who sought quashing of charges against him in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

During his stint with the MHA, Mani said the inputs given by the IB were “always found to be accurate, precise and professional,” which is evident from the affidavit filed by him in the Gujarat High Court on August 6, 2009.

In this affidavit, the MHA had endorsed the IB’s views that Ishrat and three others were terrorists. In a revised affidavit filed on September 30, 2009, the ministry took a U-turn, claiming there was no conclusive evidence to suggest she was a terrorist. In his affidavit, Mani refused that the August 2009 affidavit was prepared at the instance of IB officer Rajinder Kumar and said whatever he had said in the two affidavits was duly approved by then home minister.

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