Forensic examiner 'pressurized' in Ishrat Jahan case, claims Satyapal Singh

Asserting that attempts were made to prove Ishrat Jahan innocent, former Mumbai police commissioner and now Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Satyapal Singh on Wednesday said that the forensic examiner who analysed Ishrat Jahan's handwriting was 'pressurised' into giving a negative report.

"Isharat Jahan and Pranesh Pillai visited a number of places in Gujarat and Maharashtra and stayed in hotels. When their hand writings were analysed in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, the examiner proved that the handwritings was theirs," Singh told ANI here.

"He was pressurized a lot to give a negative report, saying that the handwritings do not match. Then, later, this report was not included in the chargesheet," he added.

He also said that the LeT website had claimed Jahan to be their operative soon after her encounter.

"I was the chairman of SIT for at least one month in Gujarat. When the encounter happened soon after that it was written in the LeT website that Ishrat Jahan was their operative. Headley also said that she was their operative," he added.

Last week, former home secretary G K Pillai had said that the affidavit in Ishrat case was changed at the political level.

Former Union Minister Chidambaram earlier on Monday said the revised affidavit was absolutely correct, adding he accepts full responsibility for the affidavit as a minister.

Citing intelligence reports, Chidambaram had as the home minister submitted an affidavit in the Gujarat High Court in August 2009, which referred to Ishrat's alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

However, a revised affidavit was filed within a month in which all references to Ishrat's alleged terror links were missing.