The CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on Friday sought to dispel the perception that there was pressure on him to implicate former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in the Ishrat Jahan “fake” encounter case claiming the agency has filed the chargesheet on the basis of evidence which could withstand legal scrutiny.
“There was no pressure on me to implicate somebody in the case,” he replied to a question whether he was under pressure to name Shah as accused.
A media report has earlier quoted him for purportedly claiming that UPA would have been happy if the CBI had chargesheeted Shah in the case. The agency subsequently had denied the report saying the Director was quoted unfairly and out of context. “There are always perceptions. We also hear. We have to go by the evidence that we have. After all I cannot invent evidence. We have to find evidence and assess whether it is fit to file the chargesheet,” Sinha said. On the issue of terrorist background of those killed in the encounter, Sinha said, “The fact was they were human beings and they were killed in this country. We have to take action as per the Indian Penal Code. There is no exception for somebody who is labelled as a terrorist.”
The CBI Director said it was never an intention of the probe agency to go after the Intelligence Bureau, of which four officers were chargesheeted in the case.
“Intelligence Bureau is our sister organisation. We have our colleagues working there with whom we have very intimate social and professional relationship... It was never the intention of CBI to go after Intelligence Bureau,” he said. He said the case was handed over to CBI on the orders of the Gujarat High Court and SIT probe had already established that the encounter was fake. The IB was forthcoming during the investigation despite their operational constraints, he added.