Home Ministry lodges FIR in Ishrat missing files case

New Delhi, September 25

The Home Ministry has lodged an FIR in connection with the missing documents related to the controversial Ishrat Jahan “fake encounter” case, a move that might escalate political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.

An Under Secretary serving in the Home Ministry has filed the FIR at the Parliament Street police station here under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of the IPC asking the police to probe “why, how and under what circumstances” five documents related to the case went missing.

A senior Delhi Police officer said an investigation had been launched following the complaint.

The move came after an inquiry panel, headed by an Additional Secretary, concluded that the papers were “removed knowingly or unknowingly or misplaced” in September, 2009, while Congress leader P Chidambaram was the Home Minister. Only one paper out of the five documents related to the controversial alleged Ishrat fake encounter case that went missing from the Home Ministry was found, said the inquiry panel, which submitted its report on June 15 after a three-month probe.

The inquiry panel, however, made no reference to Chidambaram or anyone in the then UPA government.

The FIR was lodged under “stolen” category of the police station register on September 22 following a communication sent to the Delhi Police Commissioner on August 26.

Based on the statements of 11 serving and retired officers, including the then Home Secretary GK Pillai, the 52 -page inquiry panel report had said the documents went missing between September 18-28, 2009. The second affidavit, which was different from the first one, and filed before the Gujarat HC on September 29, 2009, said there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that Ishrat was an LeT operative.

The lodging of the FIR is expected to escalate political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress as the former had accused the latter of lowering the fight against terror by filing the second affidavit during the UPA regime. — PTI