CBI chief Ranjit Sinha issues controversial statement on Ishrat Jahan; denies

A controversy has erupted over the reported remarks of CBI chief Ranjit Sinha that the UPA government would have been happy if BJP leader Amit Shah was named as accused in Ishrat Jahan case charge sheet, a comment which he has denied.

A Delhi daily reported that Sinha has said that UPA government would have been happy had the encounter charge sheet mentioned close aide of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Amit Shah as the accused. Shah was questioned twice in connection with the fake encounter by the agency but he was not named in the charge sheet as accused. "There were political expectations... The UPA government would have been very happy if we 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 the 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.

BJP, which has been accusing CBI of colluding with Congress, today used his reported remarks of the CBI chief to attack the Government. "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 Prime Ministerial 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 Jaitely had accused CBI of "colluding" with the Congress in the Ishrat Jahan encounter probe and other fake encounters of Gujarat and demanded Commission of inquiry by Supreme Court 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."

Taking a jibe at Sinha's 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." Although, Shah was neither an accused in the FIR nor has his name appeared in the charge sheet, as accused, he had been questioned twice in connection with the case as one of the accused police officer had hinted in his involvement.

In his resignation letter, arrested Gujarat Police DIG DG Vanzara had alleged that people who were inspiring, guiding and monitoring the actions of encounter teams of Gujarat Police should also be arrested.