Pathribal case: CBI says will abide by SC directions

As Army claimed there was no evidence against its five personnel in alleged fake encounter at Pathribal, CBI today said it would abide by the directions of the Supreme Court in the matter.

CBI sources said since the apex court was siezed of the matter it would wait for a fresh set of directions as the agency had completed investigation into the case and filed a charge sheet against five Army personnel including the then Brigadier Ajay Saxena.

The sources said that the matter would be examined by the prosecution wing of the agency also to ascertain whether any action was needed to taken.

The Supreme Court, while making it clear that sanction to prosecution of army personnel was needed as they operated under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, had asked army to conduct the inquiry or hand-over its officials to the CBI for prosecution.

CBI, which had taken over the case in 2003, had filed a charge sheet in 2006 before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar in which the agency had alleged that five personnel--Brig Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan-- were involved in the fake encounter.