Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and BJP leader Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary. (File Photo: IANS)
New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) The Pakistani team that visited India to probe the Pathankot attack was assured of full cooperation by India and promised Letters Rogatory (LR) for collecting evidence related to the investigation, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Letters Rogatory is a formal communication in writing sent from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies sought by LR are service of process and taking of evidence.
Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team (JIT) visited India between March 27 and March 31. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court handed over the LR to a Pakistani court to facilitate the collection of evidence by the JIT.
Chaudhary said the interaction with the five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Pakistan -- comprising an Additional Inspector General of Police, a Deputy Inspector General, two Lt. Colonels and one Inspector -- was held in accordance with terms of reference mutually agreed to on the basis of reciprocity.
Chaudhary, in a written reply, informed the upper house that the case was under investigation in both the countries and "the government is in touch with the relevant Pakistani authorities in the matter".
The minister also informed the house that a team of NIA officials would like to visit Pakistan to carry forward the investigation in the cross-border terror attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2, in which seven Indian security men were killed by suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists.
The minister, however, did not mention the exact time of the NIA team's visit to Pakistan, saying "the details of the visit are yet to be finalised".
Chaudhary said the JIT had collected and reviewed the documents and physical evidences related to the attack. "They also interviewed key witnesses and victims through the NIA in connection with the case."
He said that the NIA briefed the JIT team on investigations carried out and they, in turn, shared the results of investigations carried out by them in Pakistan so far.
"The JIT also informed that they were collecting admissible evidence outside Pakistan under the provisions of the CrPC of Pakistan, that will legally enable them to use the evidence in prosecution," Chaudhary said.
