UPA conspired to defame Modi in Ishrat case: Home Minister

Amid protests and slogan shouting by Congress members, Rajnath Singh said the recent statement made by Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley before a Mumbai court only reaffirmed the first affidavit filed by the UPA government on August 6, 2009 before the Gujarat High Court that Ishrat had links with LeT. 

“It (Headley’s statement) was the second clear indication that she was a terrorist,” he said. The minister said the second affidavit filed by the government before the High Court on September 29, 2009 “weakened” the fact that she was an LeT operative. 

He said the effort seemed to be to “defame the then Gujarat Chief Minister (Narendra Modi), state government, some leaders and those associated with the case. There was a deep conspiracy to frame them,” he said. 

The Home Minister said a few key documents including two letters written by the then Home Secretary (G K Pillai) to then Attorney General late G E Vahanvati and the copy of the draft affidavit have so far been untracable. 

“We have ordered an internal enquiry in the Home Ministry in this regard and necessary action will be taken accordingly,” he said. In his written response to the Calling Attention Motion, Singh said the notings on the concerned file do not provide any reason for filing of the second affidavit. 

Ishrat was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004. The first affidavit was filed on the basis of inputs from Maharashtra and Gujarat Police besides the Intelligence Bureau where it was said that the 19-year-old girl from Mumbai outskirts was a Lashkar-e-Taiba activist but it was ignored in the second affidavit, Home Ministry officials said. 

The second affidavit, claimed to have been drafted by Chidambaram, said there was no conclusive evidence to prove that Ishrat was a terrorist, officials said.