The Delhi police has started a probe into a case of missing documents pertaining to the sensational Ishrat Jahan encounter that rocked the nation in 2004.
The Delhi police has started a probe into a case of missing documents pertaining to the sensational Ishrat Jahan encounter that rocked the nation in 2004. The documents had reportedly gone missing from the North Block office of ministry of home affairs (MHA).
In March 2016, a team of MHA had found that around five different documents, including two affidavits, were missing. It was later learnt that the documents went missing during the tenure of former Union home minister P. Chidambaram. Earlier it was decided that the probe will be handed over to the CBI, but later the MHA directed the Delhi police to probe the matter.
V.K. Updhyay, under secretary to the Government of India, has filed a complaint under Section 409 (Criminal Breach of Trust) of IPC in this respect with the Delhi police.
According to the information, two letters written by the then home secretary G.K. Pillai to the then attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati were not traceable. The draft of the second affidavit that came from the AG, to which the then-home minister made changes, is also missing. Later a draft affidavit sent to the attorney-general was recovered from a computer used by Mr Pillai.
On 15 June, 2004, four persons — Javed Sheikh, Jishan Johar, Amjad Ali and Ishrat Jahan — were shot dead in a police encounter in Ahemdabad while they were allegedly on a Lashkar mission to assassinate then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
Shamima Kausar, the mother of Ishrat, had moved a special criminal application (SCA) before the Gujraat high court, seeking a CBI probe into the matter.
The respondents to the petitioner (Kausar) were Union of India, the State of Gujarat and others. The then-under secretary MHA filed the first affidavit on behalf of Union of India in SCA on August 6 2009. The second affidavit was filed by MHA under secretary on September 29 2009. In 2016 the MHA examined all the files at length and found that some documents were missing.
In March an inquiry was initiated into the matter by the MHA. The then-additional secretary (foreigners) was appointed as the inquiry official. On 15 June, he submitted the report. As per finding of the report how, why and under what circumstances these papers were missing or were removed from the files, was a matter of investigation. The MHA then decided to direct the Delhi police to probe the matter.
A police source said that three documents and two affidavits have been shown as missing in the complaint of MHA. “Two office copies of the letters and enclosure sent by the then home secretary to the AG. Two draft and affidavit amended by the then home secretary. A document filed by Union of Indian in Gujarat high court,” these are the five documents, which are missing.
The source said that after taking a legal opinion from the experts they booked the matter under Criminal Breach of Trust as they think someone has intentionally misplaced or removed these vital documents.
