MHA panel asked to complete Ishrat file probe before May 31

New Delhi

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi is said to have told Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry B K Prasad to speed up the probe and submit his report by the end of this month.

Prasad, a Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, is retiring on May 31 and the government wants the task given to him to be completed before his service comes to an end, official sources said.

Prasad is also embroiled in a controversy after an Under Secretary serving in the Home Ministry's Foreigners Division accused him of pressuring him (the junior officer) of giving clean chit to Ford Foundation, which allegedly violated provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Prasad has denied the allegation.

Top Home Ministry officials are of the opinion that the Ishrat-related files were misplaced and could be found if a concerted effort is made.

Government seems to be unhappy over the delay in finding the files and wants a quick report and Prasad has been told this in clear terms, the sources said.

The panel, constituted on March 14 following an uproar in Parliament, was asked to inquire into the circumstances in which the files related to the case of Ishrat, who was killed in the alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, went missing.

It was asked to find out the person responsible for keeping the files and relevant issues.

The papers which went missing from the Home Ministry include the copy of an affidavit vetted by the Attorney General and submitted in the Gujarat High Court in 2009 and the draft of the second affidavit vetted by the AG on which changes were made.

Two letters written by the then Home Secretary G K Pillai to the then Attorney General late G E Vahanvati and the copy of the draft affidavit have so far been untraceable.