David Headley testified today that Ishrat Jehan was a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group.
Highlights
- CBI had claimed that Rajinder Kumar was behind Ishrat Jahan's murder
- Rajinder Kumar was Chief of Intelligence Bureau, Gujarat during that time
- Kumar said Congress had manufactured the allegations for political gain
Rajinder Kumar, who retired as one of India's top intelligence officers, says new evidence today proves that the CBI's case accusing him of murdering college student Ishrat Jehan was manufactured by the government of Manmohan Singh to "neutralise a political challenge".
Mr Kumar's declaration is based on what terrorist David Coleman Headley told a Mumbai court this morning via video link from the US, where he is in jail for playing a central role in terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba's deadly attack on Mumbai in 2008. Mr Headley, who has over the last two days shared details of his recruitment and rise in the Lashkar, testified today that Ishrat Jehan was a member of the same terror group.
Mr Headley's information reveals that the CBI case against him was a "deep-rooted conspiracy by the highest and most powerful in the country to neutralise a political challenge to them," said Mr Kumar, alleging that the Congress, which was in power, faked the case to score points over Narendra Modi, who was emerging as the BJP's likely choice for presumptive Prime Minister.
In 2013, Mr Kumar, retired as Additional Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Just two months later, the CBI said it had evidence that he had masterminded the cold-blooded killing of Ms Jehan in Gujarat in June 2004. She was shot along with three others by some of the state's top police officers who alleged that she was a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and was part of a plan to assassinate Mr Modi who was the Chief Minister then.
Mr Kumar was the chief of the Intelligence Bureau in Gujarat at the time. The CBI said Mr Kumar had not only conspired to plan the fake encounter, but that he had provided the weapons used to kill the student and the men traveling with her in a car.
The Intelligence Bureau backed Mr Kumar strongly, stating that though its officers had alerted the Gujarat police to the possibility of Ms Jehan being a Lashkar operative, its officers neither authorized nor participated in the killing.
Last year, the Home Ministry refused to grant permission to the CBI to prosecute Mr Kumar, stating that there wasn't enough evidence to prove the CBI's allegations.