Patna:
The BJP today alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), by not probing the role of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-E-Taiba (LET) in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, was acting at the behest of the Congress to frame Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
"We would like to ask the CBI why it left out the LET angle during investigation in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case when there was overwhelming evidence about presence of Pakistan-based terror outfit's militants in Gujarat in 2004," BJP's Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ravishankar Prasad told reporters.
"The CBI has also not tried to find out as to what the 19 year-old Jahan was doing in Gujarat and whether she had any rapport with Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - all said to be LET operatives, Mr Prasad. Even the Pakistan-based terror outfit had acknowledged Jahan and Sheikh as martyrs on its website," he added.
But, the premier investigative agency has chosen to ignore all this information about Jahan's background and directed its investigation with one-point agenda to nail the Gujarat Chief Minister, he said.
He said that the CBI also ignored an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report about presence of some LET militants in Gujarat which was corroborated by another LET operative, George Headley, during interrogation by the U.S. agencies, and questioned the investigative agency's motives in choosing not to probe the terror angle in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case despite credible inputs by the intelligence officials.
"The IB report goes to the PM and Union Home Minister...its report should have been taken seriously and acted upon," Mr Prasad said and regretted efforts being made by some Congress leaders to malign the agency and demoralise its officers engaged in the task of counter-insurgency works.
Referring to the CBI chargesheet submitted before the Gujarat High Court yesterday, Mr Prasad said, "The CBI has submitted a collusive chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case based on biased investigation."
"The credibility of the CBI is well-known....it has been given specific task by the UPA government to implicate the Gujarat Chief Minister in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case," the senior BJP leader said.
"Encounters - fake of real - have taken place in states like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Has any chief minister been targeted in the manner that Modi is being targeted without evidence?" Mr Prasad asked.
"It is clear that the Congress is scared of Mr Modi," he said, and claimed that the latter's popularity will keep growing.
On the UPA government's decision to seek promulgation of an ordinance for implementation of the food security bill, the senior BJP leader said that it proves that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi wants to leave her stamp on it.
"The hurried manner in which the UPA government has taken the ordinance route to implement the food security bill, proves that Mrs Gandhi wants to impose her individual stamp on the measure and not that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.
"We would like to ask the CBI why it left out the LET angle during investigation in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case when there was overwhelming evidence about presence of Pakistan-based terror outfit's militants in Gujarat in 2004," BJP's Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ravishankar Prasad told reporters.
"The CBI has also not tried to find out as to what the 19 year-old Jahan was doing in Gujarat and whether she had any rapport with Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - all said to be LET operatives, Mr Prasad. Even the Pakistan-based terror outfit had acknowledged Jahan and Sheikh as martyrs on its website," he added.
But, the premier investigative agency has chosen to ignore all this information about Jahan's background and directed its investigation with one-point agenda to nail the Gujarat Chief Minister, he said.
He said that the CBI also ignored an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report about presence of some LET militants in Gujarat which was corroborated by another LET operative, George Headley, during interrogation by the U.S. agencies, and questioned the investigative agency's motives in choosing not to probe the terror angle in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case despite credible inputs by the intelligence officials.
"The IB report goes to the PM and Union Home Minister...its report should have been taken seriously and acted upon," Mr Prasad said and regretted efforts being made by some Congress leaders to malign the agency and demoralise its officers engaged in the task of counter-insurgency works.
Referring to the CBI chargesheet submitted before the Gujarat High Court yesterday, Mr Prasad said, "The CBI has submitted a collusive chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case based on biased investigation."
"The credibility of the CBI is well-known....it has been given specific task by the UPA government to implicate the Gujarat Chief Minister in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case," the senior BJP leader said.
"Encounters - fake of real - have taken place in states like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Has any chief minister been targeted in the manner that Modi is being targeted without evidence?" Mr Prasad asked.
"It is clear that the Congress is scared of Mr Modi," he said, and claimed that the latter's popularity will keep growing.
On the UPA government's decision to seek promulgation of an ordinance for implementation of the food security bill, the senior BJP leader said that it proves that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi wants to leave her stamp on it.
"The hurried manner in which the UPA government has taken the ordinance route to implement the food security bill, proves that Mrs Gandhi wants to impose her individual stamp on the measure and not that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.
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