Shivanand Tiwari alleges wrong inputs given by Intelligence in Ishrat Jahan case

A senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said here today that an intelligence official having close links with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi provided wrong inputs to stage the fake encounter against Ishrat Jahan.

Shivanand Tiwari said that the encounter in which Ishrat Jahan was killed has been proved to be a fake one. " Now there is a Joint Director in the IB, who is also an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer in the government, has reportedly good relations with him. The CBI has questioned him as well and it is believed that it was on his input that the encounter was undertaken to prevent Narendra Modi's assassination. The encounter was undertaken after he gave the input" he said.

Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia earlier on Saturday praised Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satish Verma for bringing out the truth in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Modhwadia said that Satish Verma, who was a member of the Special Investigation Team formed on the directions of the Gujarat High Court, had conducted an in-depth investigation and submitted reports and the High Court had found them correct.

"The CBI will file the chargesheet, but the entire investigation followed the orders of the Gujarat High Court. The Gujarat High Court formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) the chairman of which was an IG-level officer appointed by the Government of India. Six officers also changed (during the probe). The other two officers were of the Gujarat cadre-Mohan Jha and Satish Verma. The chairman and the other member were of different opinion, but Satish Verma conduced an in-depth investigation and submitted six reports," said Modhwadia.

"The High Court found that his reports are correct and later issued direction to the CBI to further investigate the case. The High Court also gave the direction that Satish Verma would assist them in the probe. The entire investigation has been done by Gujarat police official Satish Verma and I congratulate him for bringing the truth to the fore despite all pressures," he added.

The Gujarat High Court had earlier directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its probe into the police encounter deaths of college student Ishrat Jahan and three others by July 4 and file a final report.

The court also told the CBI to file the chargesheet at the earliest so that no more accused can get out on bail, while a top official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was interrogated for his role in the alleged fake encounter killing.

The court also allowed CBI's plea seeking that Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Verma, who has been assisting the CBI in the investigation, be dropped from the probe team from June 23.