I didn't draft second affidavit in Ishrat case, was ordered to sign it: Ex-MHA officer

In a revelation that has the potential to spark a fresh political row and disrupt the Parliament functioning, former under secretary for internal security at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) R.V.S. Mani on Tuesday claimed that he did not draft the second affidavit and had been ordered to sign the file in the Ishrat Jehan case.

"I did not draft the second affidavit, I was ordered to sign file, so I did it. If I am ordered to do something, I have to go and do it. I cannot refuse. I cannot say what the need for the affidavit was? You will have to ask people who ordered it," Mani told Times Now.

His claims came days after former home secretary G.K. Pillai alleged that former home minister P. Chidambaram "bypassed him" and "rewrote" the second affidavit submitted to a court in this connection.

"I believe in Intelligence Bureau's (IB) inputs, and there is no reason for not believing in IB inputs. The CBI, however, said IB input is not believable. I refused to back what the CBI said," he said.

He alleged that the SIT Chief was engineering evidence.

Stating that so many officers and people chased him, Mani claimed that in June 2013, he was burnt with cigarettes.

Last week, Pillai had said the Ishrat affidavit was "changed at the political level".

Chidambaram said on Monday said the revised affidavit was "absolutely correct" and "as a minister he accepts full responsibility for the affidavit".

Hitting back at Pillai, Chidambaram it was disappointing that the former home secretary who was equally responsible wanted to distance himself from that.

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

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

Early on the morning of 15 June 2004, Ishrat Jahan (19), Javed Sheikh, Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were shot dead on the road leading to the Kotarpur waterworks on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Police claimed that she was part of a plot to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi.