Ishrat Jahan case: Digvijay Singh targets Modi, says former IB Director should be chargesheeted

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday demanded that former Ahmedabad Intelligence Bureau (IB) station chief Rajender Kumar should also be chargesheeted in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, and alleged that the Gujarat cops were working together to raise the pitch and leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi so that he becomes a hero in the minds of all people who believe that the terrorism and acts of terror are only being done by the Muslims.

Singh alleged that the Gujarat Government has done not one, but six false encounters.

" And the unfortunate part which is now becoming public, is the feeding of wrong information in collusion of the Gujarat Police by the then Joint Director of IB because of which false encounters have taken place," he said.

Singh further cited the encounter of Sadiq Jamal to target Modi.

"There is a case of Sadiq Jamal also, which has not come into the notice of the media where the IB had on recorded had handed over Sadiq Jamal to the Gujarat Police. And few days later, Gujarat Police killed him and showed that to be an encounter because they made out a story that Sadiq Jamal had come to kill Narendra Modi. The whole idea of the Gujarat Police and the then Joint Director of IB working together was only to raise the pitch and leadership of the Gujarat Chief Minister so that he becomes a hero in the mind of all people who believe that the terrorism and acts of terror are only being done by the Muslims," said Singh.

"But the fact is that there have been Sangh activist which is a proven thing now who were involved in the bomb blast in Malegaon, Modassa in Gujarat, Mecca Masjid in Andhra Pradesh, in Samjhauta Express and Ajmer Dargah Sharif. So, therefore this is extremely sensitive issue," he added.

The Congress General Secretary also made it clear that the UPA Government at the Centre is not interfering in the whole issue.

" But we would like all those who are involved in fake encounters. If the Gujarat police officers are in jail because of false encounters then the Joint Director IB should also if he is a part of the conspiracy with the Gujarat Police should also be chargesheeted," he said.

According to certain media reports, the Home Ministry is determined to protect Rajendra Kumar from being arrested and charged with conspiracy and murder. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly decided to wait - but only for a bit - to bring those charges against Kumar, currently Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau.

Singh also used the occasion to take potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and alleged that the saffron brigade has been defending not only Narendra Modi, but defended publicly the people who have been accused of terror activities like Swami Aseemananad, Pragya Thakur and Dayanidhi Pandey.

Nineteen-year-old Ishrat was killed along with three others on June 15, 2004 allegedly by a team of Crime Branch officials on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The Crime Branch had then claimed that the four were LeT members and were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.