Notwithstanding CBI chief Ranjit Sinha’s denial of having remarked that the UPA would have been happy if Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah was named as an accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case chargesheet, it has triggered a controversy with the BJP on Saturday showcasing it to point out that the agency never had any prosecutable evidence but was still charging and attacking Shah to oblige the Congress-led UPA.
“It is a very important statement coming from the Director CBI. There was no prosecutable evidence even three years ago in Sohrabuddin’s case. The CBI obliged Congress-led UPA in its attempt to target the PM candidate of the BJP, the Chief Minister of Gujarat by charging and targeting Amit Shah,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
In September last year, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had accused CBI of “colluding” with the Congress in the Ishrat Jahan encounter probe and other fake encounters of Gujarat and demanded a Commission of Inquiry by Supreme Court. “There were political expectations... The UPA Government would have been very happy if we had charged Amit Shah...But we went strictly by evidence and found there was no prosecutable evidence against Shah,” Sinha was quoted by an English business newspaper as saying.
A CBI spokesperson issued a statement that he was quoted out of context and unfairly. “Director CBI has been quoted unfairly and completely out of context. CBI is an impartial and an apolitical organisation.
In the Ishrat Jahan case, CBI has done a fair investigation to the best of its ability,” the statement said.For his part, denying that he was pressured by the UPA Government, Sinha told a television news channel: “We conducted a fair probe and pleased no one, the CBI was under no pressure. No evidence was found against Amit Shah.”
While the JD (U) said it seems Sinha has some political plans post-retirement, the Gujarat Congress termed it unfortunate that the CBI let off the “main conspirator”.
Taking a jibe at Sinha’s purported statement, Janata Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar said, “The Director CBI should resign first. If chief of big agency of this country like CBI speaks in such a manner, he should resign first and a case should be filed against him. It should come out how many accused he let off and how many were booked for pleasing his masters. An FIR should be filed and case should be run against him.”
“It is likely that he (Sinha) is doing this to provide some benefits to the BJP. Perhaps he has plans of joining politics after his retirement,” Ali added.Reacting to the development, Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia said, “It is unfortunate that CBI Director who enjoys so much of autonomy that his files cannot be seen by the officers of the UPA Government, leave aside the Ministers, is making such a statement.”
Shah was questioned twice in connection with the fake encounter by the agency but he was not named in the chargesheet as accused.