Batla verdict: BJP slams Cong leaders for questioning encounter

BJP has slammed Congress leaders for questioning the veracity of Batla House encounter and said the court verdict today will go a long way in boosting the morale of security personnel fighting terror.

'It was a bizarre situation. While the government honoured late inspector M C Sharma for bravery, senior Congress leaders and functionaries of the ruling dispensation had raised questions on the veracity of the encounter,' BJP Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

He said the verdict will go a long way in boosting the morale of security personnel fighting terror.

Prasad said with the court convicting lone suspected IM operative Shahzad Ahmed for the crime, 'the soul of inspector Sharma, killed in the encounter, will now rest in peace'.

Shahzad is said to be one of the occupants of the flat in Jamia Nagar where the encounter took place on September 19, 2008 between officers of the Special Cell of Delhi Police and the alleged IM terrorists said to be involved in the September 13, 2008 serial blasts at Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, Greater Kailash and India Gate left 26 dead and 133 injured.

Other accused named in the charge sheet are Mohd Saif, Mohd Atif Ameen alias Bashir and Mohd Sajid. While Saif had surrendered, the other two had been shot dead in the encounter.

The shootout had sparked a controversy with Congress leader Digvijay Singh claiming that it was fake, but his party had swiftly distanced itself from his remarks.

The Samjwadi Party too had demanded a judicial probe but the then Home Minister P Chidambaram asserted that the encounter was genuine and there was no scope to reopen the matter.