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  India   ‘BJP leaders tried to influence’

‘BJP leaders tried to influence’

AGE CORRESPONDENT | PRAMOD KUMAR
Published : Oct 1, 2013, 12:33 pm IST
Updated : Oct 1, 2013, 12:33 pm IST

With the CBI probe revealing that senior Gujarat BJP leaders had allegedly directed some bureaucrats of the state in November 2011 to “monitor and influence” the probe of the SIT in the Ishrat Jahan e

With the CBI probe revealing that senior Gujarat BJP leaders had allegedly directed some bureaucrats of the state in November 2011 to “monitor and influence” the probe of the SIT in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, trouble seems to be brewing for the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government. The CBI recently recorded the statement of then Gujarat minister of state for home, Praful Patel, twice in this connection. Sources said suspended IPS officer G.L. Singhal, who was among the nine persons who allegedly attended the purported November 19, 2011 meeting, during recent interrogation told the sleuths that senior public servants had been directed by the top government leadership to monitor and influence the probe of the SIT in the Ishrat case. It may be recalled that on November 21, 2011, the SIT had informed the Gujarat high court that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine. After the SIT filed its report, the high court had ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) be filed against those involved in the fake encounter, in which over 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, were involved. The CBI later began its investigations into the case on the basis of the SIT report. “Fresh revelations made by Singhal forced CBI sleuths to examine former minister of state for home Praful Patel, who had allegedly attended the purported meeting, twice in the recent past. His statements are being further verified,” sources said. Probe has revealed that nine people were allegedly present in the November, 2011 meeting. Those who attended the meeting, include: G.L. Singhal, G.C. Murmu, A.K. Sharma, Praful Patel, state law minister Pradeep Singh Jadeja, agriculture minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and another accused in Ishrat case, Tarun Barot. G.L. Singhal had also submitted two pen drives to the CBI containing the recorded conversation of the meeting. Singhal is now out on bail. Ishrat, Javed Sheikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Jishan Johar were allegedly killed in a fake encounter near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi