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This is an archive article published on June 18, 2013

Ishrat encounter: CBI to

The CBI will question IB special director Rajendra Kumar in connection with the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case at its

The CBI will question IB special director Rajendra Kumar in connection with the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case at its Gandhinagar office on Tuesday. The CBI has already questioned him once,but sources in the probe agency claim he had been evasive then.

Kumar,who was posted as IB’s joint director in Gujarat at the time of the encounter,was instrumental in generating an intelligence input that said Ishrat and three others were LeT terrorists on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. It was this input that led to the encounter. The CBI claims it has strong evidence of Kumar’s involvement in the conspiracy.

Sources in the CBI say Kumar will be questioned regarding the source of weapons that were allegedly planted by the police on Ishrat and the three others who were killed in the encounter on Ahmedabad’s outskirts. After the encounter,the Gujarat Police had claimed to have seized an AK-56. The CBI says such sophisticated weapons are not easily available to any state police.

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The CBI is said to have obtained a statement of G L Singhal,an IPS officer from Gujarat who was arrested in the case and released later on bail,under Section 164 of CrPC which reportedly implicates Kumar as being part of the conspiracy.

The CBI sources say that Kumar will also be questioned regarding several phone calls made from his office landline and mobile phones which indicated his involvement in the planning of the encounter.

Earlier,the CBI’s move to question the top IB official had triggered a row,with the IB director even complaining to the PMO saying the decision could set a bad precedent in the intelligence community. However,after CBI provided the Ministry of Home Affairs with “credible” evidence pointing to complex role of Kumar into the staged encounter,the IB is learnt to have lowered its guard and agreed to cooperate in the probe.

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