Union Minister Prakash Javadekar accused Congress of hatching a "conspiracy". (PTI file photo)
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar today accused Congress of hatching a "conspiracy" and using investigating agencies for "political reasons" in the Ishrat Jehan and Malegaon blast cases.
"The revelation that the NIA has made is very important. The manner in which this whole situation is now emerging, facts which have come out in the NIA investigation about Ishrat Jehan are very surprising.
"This is a clear example of where things can lead you if you use investigative agency under some conspiracy, if you use agencies only for political reasons," he said attacking Congress without naming it.
Mr Javadekar was responding to a question about NIA reportedly reversing its earlier stand of having no evidence to link nine Muslim men to the September 2006 Malegaon bombings as well as the different stands taken by the Home Ministry during UPA regime on Ishrat Jehan case.
Ishrat was killed in an encounter by Gujarat Police in 2004. A court-monitored CBI probe had found the encounter to be fake and a major row erupted after the UPA government filed in September 2009 a second affidavit which, unlike the first, did not make any reference to her suspected LeT links.
Firing a fresh salvo at Sonia Gandhi over the Ishrat Jehan issue, BJP yesterday suggested that the Congress chief had asked the then home minister P Chidambaram to file a second affidavit in the case as UPA could "tolerate terrorists but not Narendra Modi as Prime Minister".
Mr Javadekar also justified the government's decision to merge Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA), launched by the previous UPA government, with the Khelo India programme for development of sports.
"Khelo India is a good thing. Let the entire India play," the ministry snapped when asked whether the government will rename all the schemes launched by the UPA.
He declined to go into issue of Kohinoor diamond when asked why the government went for a "U-turn" in the matter.
"It has been clarified yesterday. No need to speak on it again," he said.
Last night, the government had made a U-turn on the Kohinoor issue, saying it will make all efforts to bring back the valued diamond.
Earlier, it had said in the Supreme Court that the Kohinoor diamond was "neither stolen nor forcibly" taken by the then British rulers but given to them by the erstwhile rulers of Punjab.