New Delhi: The common link between two Kashmiri youths arrested in February 2006 on grounds that they were Al Badr terrorists - and now declared innocent - and the Jamia Nagar shootout is a celebrated officer of the Delhi Police now in the crosshairs of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In what could cast a shadow on the functioning of the Special Cell, the Delhi Police's elite anti-terrorism wing, and its claims about the furiously debated Jamia Nagar shootout, the CBI has demanded action against sub inspector Ravinder Tyagi who won a President's Police Medal for Gallantry at this year's Republic Day.

Tyagi, who they say was instrumental in fabricating evidence against Mohammed Arif Qamar and Irshad Ali, also led the Sep 19 operation in Jamia Nagar in which two suspected terrorists and a police officer were killed.

In its closure report declaring Qamar and Ali innocent before the sessions court last week, the CBI has said action must be taken against Tyagi.

His fate would come up for hearing Nov 27.

“We will have to wait for what the court says on that date, and it will be interesting to see if a harsh order is awaited (against Tyagi),” said a CBI official.

Another official added that the issue was one that went beyond an individual.

“This is obviously going to put a serious question mark on Tyagi's functioning. But more importantly more questions will be asked of the Jamia Nagar shootout, which is already steeped in controversy,” a senior intelligence official told IANS.

Qamar and Ali, both from Kashmir, were arrested by the police from Mukarba Chowk on G.T. Karnal Road in north Delhi in February 2006. Both were actually police informers to the Special Cell, says the CBI.

According to the CBI's closure report, Tyagi helped to fabricate evidence against Qamar and Ali, who the police claimed were Al-Badr terrorists and are now in Tihar jail.

The investigating agency has also sought action against two other special cell officers - Vinay Tyagi and Subhash Bhatt. They, however, were not involved in the Jamia Nagar shootout.

Besides, the CBI has told police that four other Special Cell officers are being investigated in the Al-Badr case. Of these, two, Sanjay Dutt and Rahul Kumar, were also part of the Jamia Nagar shootout.

Delhi Police had claimed to have arrested Qamar and Ali from a Jammu and Kashmir Roadways bus with pistols and two kgs of RDX.

However, according to the probe agency, the bus tickets produced by Delhi Police were not seized from their personal search but shown as recovered on Feb 10, 2006 - a day after the arrests.

According to the CBI, the police in its charge sheet said arms and ammunition were delivered to Qamar and Ali by Sheikh Pervez and Faiyan Ahmed, both residents of Srinagar, but no efforts were made to interrogate these people.

 

Source : IANS