A journalist, facing charges of extortion by the Delhi Police, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court alleging interference by senior BJP leaders in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter killing case, being tried before a Mumbai court.
The journalist has based in charge on a sting operation. The petitioner, Pushp Kumar Sharma, claimed he has caught on tape senior BJP leaders including two BJP MPs from Rajya Sabha conspiring to secure Vakalatnamas signed by Prajapati’s mother Narmada Bai, with a view to influence the proceedings initiated at her behest. It was on her petition, the SC had directed CBI inquiry into the Prajapati encounter, in which former Gujarat Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah is an accused. Shah is currently on bail. The petitioner, demanding protection from Court, has demanded CBI to inquire into the material produced by him.
In addition, he even targeted Shah claiming that while on bail, the leader had abused his freedom to influence the outcome of trial. The BJP did not take Sharma’s allegation too seriously and refused to comment on the sting. Incidentally, the Delhi Police had on November 17, 2009, arrested Sharma while receiving a sum of Rs 10,000 as extortion money from a Head Constable, whom he had allegedly framed in a sting operation.