New Delhi: In the latest twist in the Ishrat Jahan controversy, the statement given by former home secretary GK Pillai in 2013 has been found to contradict the claims he made this week. In 2013, Pillai had claimed that there was no evidence to show Ishrat was an LeT operative.
In 2013, Pillai had said, "I do not think there is any conclusive evidence against Ishrat Jahan. And unless there is any proper investigation, she has to be given her benefit of doubt."
Pillai had on February 25, 2016, alluded to political interference by the then home minister P Chidambaram during the UPA-II regime. He had also talked about changing Ishrat as an LeT operative in the second affidavit in order to corner then chief minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat.
Reports quoting Pillai had said that two affidavits submitted by the Home Ministry on the Ishrat Jahan case were contradictory to each other. Pillai was the Home Secretary and Chidambaram the Home Minister when the affidavits were filed in 2009.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is also re-examining the files related to the case after allegations of political pressure by former home secretary GK Pillai.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also agreed to hear a plea seeking quashing of criminal case against Gujarat Police officers in connection with the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.
The plea was filed in the apex court after Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley referred to Mumbra (a town near Mumbai) girl Ishrat Jehan as a suicide bomber of terror group LeT. Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Jowher were gunned down at Kotarpur in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
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