CBI chief denies controversial statement on Ishrat case

BJP, which has been accusing CBI of colluding with Congress, on Saturday used his reported remarks of the CBI chief to attack the govt

A controversy has erupted over the reported remarks of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief Ranjit Sinha that the UPA government would have been happy if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah was named as accused in the Ishrat Jahan case charge sheet, a comment which he has denied.

A Delhi daily reported that Sinha has said that UPA government would have been happy had the encounter charge sheet mentioned close aide of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, as the accused.

"There were political expectations...The UPA government would have been very happy if we had charged Amit Shah...But we went strictly by evidence and found there was no prosecutable evidence against Shah," Sinha was quoted by the English business newspaper as saying.

A CBI spokesperson issued a statement that he was quoted out of context and unfairly. "CBI is an impartial and an apolitical organisation. In the Ishrat Jahan case, CBI has done a fair investigation to the best of its ability," the statement said.

BJP, which has been accusing CBI of colluding with Congress, on Saturday used his reported remarks of the CBI chief to attack the government. "It is a very important statement coming from the director of CBI. There was no prosecutable evidence even three years ago in Sohrabuddin's case. The CBI obliged UPA in its attempt to target the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, the chief minister of Gujarat by charging and targeting Amit Shah," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.