Randeep Surjewala said that the Ishrat Jahan case had no links with the Congress. (File Photo)
Congress today hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah over the Ishrat Jahan case, accusing them of "obstructing" judicial process and taking to "patent falsehoods".
"The Prime Minister and the BJP President are shamelessly misleading the country and obstructing judicial process by blocking trial of accused in the Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case pending in a court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.
He said PM Modi and Mr Shah must tell the country the real motive behind "desperation" to shut down the trial. "What is it that they seek to hide or are scared of needs to be placed before the nation? Is there some evidence available on that file of the court that goes against somebody very senior in the leadership of the BJP, which is scaring Amit Shah and Modi?" he asked.
He alleged the Modi government is using a "web of selective news leaks, deceptive statements of its ministers and non-grant of sanction for prosecution of the accused to ensure mistrial and reinvestigation through pliable investigating agencies".
Mr Surjewala said the Modi government seeks to "falsely hide" behind the language of pleadings before the High Court to ensure no trial takes place and truth does not come out.
"This itself makes the motive of Prime Minister, BJP President and their ministers clearly suspect," he said.
"Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case has no connection to the then Congress government in any manner," he said, adding findings of the fake encounter have been recorded in a judicial inquiry of the encounter by Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court after examining the entire evidence.
Citing a media report which claimed that the then Home Minister P Chidambaram had signed the first affidavit in the encounter case, Union Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman had said yesterday Congress, especially Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, should take responsibility because Mr Chidambaram did so as the party found itself not strong enough to fight Modi politically.