BJP leader Arun Jaitley has written to PM alleging misuse of CBI to target Modi, aides
In a letter to the Prime Minister, BJP leader Arun Jaitley has accused the Congress of misusing investigative agencies like the CBI to "falsely implicate" Narendra Modi and his close aides in the run-up to the national elections.
Mr Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, is the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister. "Congress cannot fight the BJP and Narendra Modi politically," Mr Jaitley writes, charging the government with trying to link the chief minister and his former Home Minister Amit Shah to a series of fake encounters in Gujarat, where Muslims were killed by the state police which alleged that they were terrorists. (
read Jaitley's letter to PM)
Mr Jaitley writes to the PM, "I do believe that it is your responsibility and indeed duty to look into all these facts and restore the professionalism and independence of the Investigative agencies. If this practice is not stopped it will set a precedent which will hurt India's Democracy. The charges of politicization and motivated investigation should all be subjected to a Commission of Inquiry headed by a sitting of the Supreme Court."
In July, the CBI filed its first chargesheet in the case of Ishrat Jehan, who was shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad along with three men in 2004. The CBI has accused seven Gujarat police officers of murder and destruction of evidence. One of them, DG Vanzara, who was a senior officer with the Crime Branch, recently wrote an explosive letter to Mr Modi in which he alleged that the shooting had been sanctioned by Amit Shah, who was then Home Minister. Mr Vanzara also reiterated what the policemen have said in their defence - that the Intelligence Bureau had warned that 19-year-old Ishrat and the men killed with her were terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba who were planning to assassinate Mr Modi.
The CBI did not name Mr Modi or Mr Shah in its chargesheet, but senior officers have said that their investigation will expand now to look at the possible political conspiracy and the alleged cover-up by officials of the Gujarat government.