Additional secretary BK Prasad on Friday told the Home Ministry that he has not been able to locate the missing files related to the Ishrat Jahan case. Prasad was appointed to investigate the missing files and submit his report to the Centre by May 31, after being given a two-month extension on the deadline. He is due to retire on the same day, PTI reported.

The Centre had appointed a single-member panel to look into the missing files in the case after Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament that the files were missing. The case relates to an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, in which 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan was killed. The issue was brought up again after Lashkar-e-Taiba accused-turned-approver David Headley told a Mumbai court that Jahan was an LeT operative.

The first affidavit in the case was filed with inputs from Gujarat and Maharashtra Police, which said Jahan was a member of the LeT. However, then Home Minister P Chidambaram revised the affidavit, and issued a second one which said there was no conclusive evidence pointing to her link with the terror outfit. Letters written from then Home Secretary GK Pillai to then Attorney General are missing, reported PTI. Pillai had said that Chidambaram had requested the changes be made regarding Jahan’s links with the LeT.