BJP demands apology from Digvijaya Singh, Congress

With a Delhi court Thursday convicting Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Shahzad Ahmad in the Batla House shootout case, the BJP demanded an apology from the Congress and party general secretrary Digvijaya Singh for having earlier raised questions about the genuineness of the gunbattle.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokepserson Prakash Javedakar said in tweets Thursday that his party welcomed the court verdict, and Digvijaya Singh must apologise for his earlier remarks concerning the shootout of Sep 19, 2008.

He said the Congress should also apologise as Digvijaya Singh speaks not "off the cuff", but for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

"We welcome court's verdict in #Batla house encounter case. Now #Digvijay must apologize because he cast aspersions on MC Sharma's martyrdom. By his (Digvijaya's) actions & words he has supported terror suspects & demoralised security forces," Javadekar tweeted.

"Terror must be treated as terror and should not seen through the prism of religion Cong must apologize for politicising Batla encounter case as Digvijaya does not speak 'off the cuff'. He speaks for #Sonia & #Rahul Gandhi," Javadekar's tweet read.

BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said Digivijaya Singh should accept, as a civilised person, that his comments were wrong, and added that Congress leaders attempted to mislead people on every issue.

Digvijaya Singh had earlier raised questions about the shootout, remarking that it was hard to understand how one person could have received five to six gunshot wounds in the head during a shootout. He had said that he was only expressing a personal opinion.

Singh had also said that he had no doubt of the courage of Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed in the shootout.

The government, however, has maintained that the Batla House incident was a genuine gunbattle with terrorists.

The court Thursday convicted the lone accused in the case, Shahzad Ahmad, for killing Sharma in the shootout.

Ahmad was one of the occupants of a flat that was raided by police in south Delhi's Batla House neighbourhood in Jamia Nagar area Sep 19, 2008, six days after serial blasts in the city, the prosecution said.

Ahmad, along with another man, Junaid, had jumped off the balcony and fled after firing at police, the prosecution said.

The IM operatives were allegedly involved in the Sep 13, 2008, serial blasts at Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, Greater Kailash and India Gate in which 26 people were killed and 133 injured.