With this new development in the case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the Congress’ ‘malicious’ campaign against Shah ‘stands demolished’ with the exclusion of his name from the CBI’s supplementary chargesheet.
It was learnt that the CBI has charged Intelligence Bureau official Rajendra Kumar, Special Director Rajinder Kumar (now retired) and three other serving officials including P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede in their chargesheet.
All of them were booked under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), murder, wrongful confinement, kidnapping and wrongful concealment. ‘Kumar has been additionally charged under Arms Act with the CBI alleging that he had provided arms to the accused on 14 June, 2004, a day before the encounter took place,’ CBI sources said.
The CBI alleged in its supplementary charge sheet that Kumar, who was the then joint director of IB, handed over arms and ammunition to G Singhal of Gujarat police who passed the weapons to Tarun Barot through Nizamuddin Sayeed. These arms and ammunition were used in executing the crime.
Earlier, the CBI sources had claimed to have enough evidence against IB officials who are suspected to have been involved in the conspiracy to carry out the encounter. On 15 June, 2004, Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in Ahmedabad on suspicion of being part of a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) module who were planning to assassinate Modi.
‘CBI chargesheet filed today doesn’t have Shah’s name as there was no evidence. So what Congress was saying was false,’ BJP senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
‘It is a matter of serious concern that senior intelligence officials are involved in such covert operations against terror. They should be subjected to criminal prosecution. We would like to seek a debate on it as this will distract them (agencies) from taking initiatives against terror,’ Prasad said.
While lambasting the Congress party, he said, ‘The Congress party, both in Gujarat and at the national level, had undertaken a malicious, motivated and systematic campaign against Amit Shah of complicity in the Ishrat Jehan case.
That campaign stands demolished today and the truth triumphs. This is for the first time in India’s history that senior Intelligence Bureau officials have been named in a charge sheet in an encounter case and will naturally face trial.’
It was learnt that the CBI has charged Intelligence Bureau official Rajendra Kumar, Special Director Rajinder Kumar (now retired) and three other serving officials including P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede in their chargesheet.
All of them were booked under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), murder, wrongful confinement, kidnapping and wrongful concealment. ‘Kumar has been additionally charged under Arms Act with the CBI alleging that he had provided arms to the accused on 14 June, 2004, a day before the encounter took place,’ CBI sources said.
The CBI alleged in its supplementary charge sheet that Kumar, who was the then joint director of IB, handed over arms and ammunition to G Singhal of Gujarat police who passed the weapons to Tarun Barot through Nizamuddin Sayeed. These arms and ammunition were used in executing the crime.
Earlier, the CBI sources had claimed to have enough evidence against IB officials who are suspected to have been involved in the conspiracy to carry out the encounter. On 15 June, 2004, Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in Ahmedabad on suspicion of being part of a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) module who were planning to assassinate Modi.
‘CBI chargesheet filed today doesn’t have Shah’s name as there was no evidence. So what Congress was saying was false,’ BJP senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
‘It is a matter of serious concern that senior intelligence officials are involved in such covert operations against terror. They should be subjected to criminal prosecution. We would like to seek a debate on it as this will distract them (agencies) from taking initiatives against terror,’ Prasad said.
While lambasting the Congress party, he said, ‘The Congress party, both in Gujarat and at the national level, had undertaken a malicious, motivated and systematic campaign against Amit Shah of complicity in the Ishrat Jehan case.
That campaign stands demolished today and the truth triumphs. This is for the first time in India’s history that senior Intelligence Bureau officials have been named in a charge sheet in an encounter case and will naturally face trial.’