Guilty in fake encounter case should be punished: Shinde

A day after CBI told a court in Ahmedabad that it is probing the role of IB officers in Ishrat Jahan case, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday said those guilty of carrying out the alleged fake encounter should be punished. "Facts are facts. Guilty should be punished," Mr. Shinde said when asked to comment on CBI's submission to the court. Mr. Shinde's statement bears significance as Home Ministry officials have been maintaining that there was not enough evidence against Intelligence Bureau Special Director Rajendra Kumar and three others in the alleged fake encounter case. The CBI had on Wednesday held that 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan was killed in a "fake" encounter in 2004 and charge sheeted seven police officers in the case, saying it was a joint operation between Gujarat police and the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau. The Home Ministry has been maintaining that CBI does not have enough evidence to prosecute IB officer Kumar in the alleged fake encounter case and it was unlikely to give sanction to CBI to prosecute the senior IPS officer. However, CBI has not sought the sanction from the Home Ministry, which is the cadre controlling authority of IPS officers.