Sadiq Jamal encounter case: CBI questions former IB officer

Carrying forward its probe in the alleged 2003 fake encounter of Sadiq Jamal in Gujarat, CBI has questioned former Special Director of Intelligence Bureau Sudhir Kumar in connection with the case.

The former IB official, who retired as a member of the Central Vigilance Commission, was questioned recently, a senior CBI official said here.

Sudhir Kumar is third IB officer after Rajinder Kumar, another Special Director of the intelligence agency, to be questioned in connection with the case, the official said.

Kumar, a 1968 batch IPS officer, may be called for questioning again in case there were some discrepancies between the two officers over the sequence of the events that led to the encounter, sources said.

The input given by Kumar was in connection with the alleged reason behind the killing of Jamal, a resident of Bhavnagar city, by a team of Gujarat crime branch in an encounter near Galaxy Cinema on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on January 13, 2003.

Kumar was posted as Special Director of Intelligence Bureau when this incident took place.

They said role of Kumar, who was handling Western Zone in the Intelligence Bureau at the agency headquarters, was under scanner of the agency for the alert that Jamal was a terrorist on a mission to eliminate VIPs in Gujarat.

CBI has already questioned a Maharashtra cadre officer of the rank of Joint Secretary twice before summoning Sudhir Kumar and Rajendra Kumar.

Jamal's brother Shabir has sought further investigation into the alleged role played by then Joint Director (IB) Rajendra Kumar, former Gujarat Minister of State (MoS) for Home and the Chief Minister in the encounter case.

At that time, the Gujarat Police had claimed that he was a terrorist who entered the city to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi and VHP leader Pravin Togadia, a claim similar to that made regarding the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.