Hype is being created in Ishrat Jahan case, alleges Rajnath Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Thursday alleged that the ruling Congress Party was trying to gain political mileage by unnecessarily hyping the 2004 Ishrat Jahan case.

"There have been a lot of encounters in this country. And I think, before 2002 more than 3,000 encounters were took place. But only for political purpose, the hype is being created in this case," he said.

Launching a frontal attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia yesterday said that the truth has come to the fore in this case.

"In the past seven years, after the truth was unleashed none of the militants came to Gujarat to kill the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister wanted to become a hero and that is why the fake encounter took place and in that innocent Ishrat Jahan was killed. However, the truth cannot be hidden and it has come out," he told the media in Ahmedabad.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was fake.

The CBI, which yesterday filed a chargesheet in the case, contended that the encounter was a joint operation between Gujarat Police and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau, SIB.

The investigating agency further said that charges have been established against ADGP PP Pandey, suspended police officers DG Vanzara, GL Singhal, Tarun Barot, NK Amin, Anaju Chaudhary and JG Parmar.

The CBI also said that investigation is on against Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar and four officers of the agency. According to the chargesheet, Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist, but the three others killed along with her had alleged terror links.

No political leader has been named in the CBI chargesheet.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbai, was killed in an encounter along with three others on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004.