MHA not to give all documents to CBI in Ishrat case

The Home Ministry seems to be dragging its feet over CBI's request to provide files related to contradictory affidavits submitted by it on the antecedents of Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat High Court.

The Home Ministry is unlikely to provide all the documents related to the case citing national security concerns and may move court seeking exemption from disclosure, official sources said.

The Ministry, which has asked for Law Ministry's opinion on whether the confidential information sought by CBI was relevant to the investigation of the case, will write back to the premier investigating agency in due course, they said.

The CBI had sent a request to the Home Ministry to provide it with the files related to affidavits filed by its under secretary R V S Mani in the high court in 2009 within a span of two month giving contradictory versions on Ishrat's antecedents. Ishrat was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Ahmedabad with Gujarat Police claiming that she had links with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Toiba terror outfit.

The Home Ministry, if necessary, will move the court with the confidential documents saying making them public or using them as evidence may compromise country's security interests so it should get "privilege of exemption" from disclosure for the documents.

However, no final decision has been taken on the issue.

In the affidavit filed on August 6, 2009, Ishrat and three others were termed as terrorists while in the affidavit filed on September 30, 2009, the Ministry claimed that there was no conclusive evidence to suggest she was a terrorist.