Chidambaram Slams Centre over Ishrat, Says Fake Encounter Real Issue

Former Union home minister P Chidambaram has come down heavily on the Centre over the Ishrat Jahan case and said the affidavit controversy is only to divert attention from the real issue.

"The affidavit controversy is only to divert attention from the real issue in the Ishrat Jahan case. The real issue is whether there was fake encounter and whether four people already in custody were killed in that fake encounter," Chidambaram said in a tweet on Monday.

"Coming to the affidavits, the Home Minister does not sign affidavits. It is signed by an Under Secretary. Although I have no recollection of seeing the first affidavit, let us presume that I did. Then came the report of Magistrate SP Tamang. This report caused an uproar and there was demand mainly from Gujarat that Government of India should clarify or dispel misinterpretation being placed on the first affidavit. This is why a second, short affidavit was filed," he added in a series of tweets.

The first affidavit in the case was filed on the basis of inputs from Maharashtra and Gujarat Police besides the Intelligence Bureau where it was said that 19-year-old Ishrat was a Lashkar-e-Toiba activist but it was ignored in the second affidavit, Home Ministry officials said.

The second affidavit, claimed to have been drafted by the Chidambaram, said there was no conclusive evidence to prove that Ishrat was a terrorist, the officials said.

Former home secretary GK Pillai had claimed that as Home Minister, Chidambaram had recalled the file a month after the original affidavit, which described Ishrat and her slain aides as LeT operatives, was filed in the court.

Subsequently, Chidambaram had said Pillai is equally responsible for the change in affidavit.

Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Gujarat Police had then said those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had come to Gujarat to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi.

(With additional information from PTI)