Ishrat Jahan case: `CBI won`t name IB officer in chargesheet`

The CBI has asked the Centre and the Maharashtra government to provide more security to officer investigating the Ishrat Jahan shootout case.

Zee Media Bureau

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation has asked the Centre and the Maharashtra government to provide more security to the officer investigating the Ishrat Jahan shootout case. According to reports, the agency`s Nagpur-based Superintendent of Police, Sandeep Madhukar Tamgadge, an IPS officer of 2001 batch from Nagaland cadre, has been receiving threats. Meanwhile, CBI director Ranjit Sinha vowed to file chargesheet in the case by July 04. As per reports, the CBI won`t name Intelligence Bureau`s special director, senior IPS officer Rajendra Kumar in its first chargesheet in the case. The CBI will focus on those who directly participated in the incident and not on the conspiracy behind it, Sinha said. "We have given an assurance to the Gujarat High Court that we will file the chargesheet by July 04. We will maintain that," Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of a function on environmental training at the CBI headquarters here. There had been speculation that the CBI would name Rajendra Kumar for allegedly playing a role in generating the intelligence input that led to the alleged staged shootout. The Union Home Ministry has maintained that its prior sanction was required by the CBI to prosecute Kumar. The ministry has also expressed doubts over "evidence" that the agency claims to have of his involvement. Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Gopinath Pillai, Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar were killed by Gujarat Police in a shootout in 2004 in Ahmedabad. Police said they were part of a plot to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The CBI has questioned Rajendra Kumar, who was with the IB in Gujarat when the incident took place. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat, contends that the Ishrat Jahan shootout was not "fake", and was conducted on the basis of information received from IB. It has also raised questions over the manner in which the CBI was probing the case. (With IANS inputs)