Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case: Congress demands Narendra Modi's resignation

New Delhi: The Congress today said that Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi must quit because it alleged that there is now evidence that BJP leaders are trying to subvert an investigation into a case where Amit Shah, a close aide of Mr Modi, is accused of murder.

The Congress screened excerpts from a sting conducted by a freelance journalist which allegedly shows BJP big hitters discussing how to protect Mr Shah, who is a close aide of Mr Modi. The video footage was submitted on Monday as part of a Public Interest Litigation or PIL to the Supreme Court, which has not yet decided whether it will hear the case.

"It is clear that there was a grand conspiracy inwhich the highest party officials were involved in subverting justice to save Amit Shah. NarendraModi was the minister for home, he should have resigned in 2002 (the year of the Gujarat riots); this is all a consequence of 2002," Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal said.

NDTV cannot corroborate the authenticity of the sting, conducted by a reporter named Pushp Kumar Sharma. The BJP has questioned his credibility and has alleged that the Delhi Police have earlier registered extortion cases against him.

"I denounce this sting allegation. The Congress is using a doctored CD to target me. If anybody approaches the courts, I will reply there," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, one of the two BJP MPs allegedly figuring in the sting.

In 2005, the Gujarat Police abducted a pair of petty criminals named Tusiram Prajapati and Sohrabuddin Sheikh along with the latter's wife, Kauser Bi, from a bus. Sohrabuddin was shot a few days later. Tulsiram was the sole witness to his abduction. A year later, he was killed too.

The police initially claimed that the men were terrorists planning to assassinate senior BJP leaders. Later, the Gujarat government admitted that the shootings were fake encounters. Mr Shah was Home Minister at the time and is accused of murder in both fake encounters

The PIL filed in the Supreme Court claims that the BJP parliamentarians, Prakash Javadekar and Bhupendra Yadav, can be heard discussing how to get a blank document signed by the mother of Tulsiram Prajapati.

The 'vakalatnama' or signed affidavit, the BJP  leaders are allegedly heard stating, could be used to appoint a lawyer of their choice to represent Tulsiram's family, thereby allowing them to control the direction of the investigation.