The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is likely to file a review petition in the Supreme Court to thwart the CBI move to prosecute one of its special directors in the Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case. The officer in question is Rajinder Kumar, an IPS officer of 1979 batch of Manipur-Tripura cadre.
Sources said the anger among the spies, involved in generating intelligence inputs for security agencies by risking their lives in harsh terrain, is mounting. They are also worried about the fallout of the recent case as officials are handling counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism information involving national security.
“As a spy agency, we only share information. We do not recommend action or in any way involve in operational process. Our job ends the moment hard-earned piece of intelligence is forwarded to the agency concerned. In such a scenario, the official passing on information cannot be prosecuted. There is no criminality in sharing intelligence. The recent case will only give impetus to rights organisations to drag the IB into every future case,” sources added.
The review petition will also mention the covert nature of functioning of the domestic spy agency seeking legal immunity for Kumar, who as Gujarat IB joint director in 2004 passed on the input regarding threat by terrorist organisation LeT to top state BJP leadership.
Kumar is understood to have told Home Secretary R K Singh and IB Director Asif Ibrahim that he had enough evidence against Ishrat and three others regarding their links to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation.