Former home minister P Chidambaram on Monday reacted for the first time in the wake of new revelations in the Ishrat Jahan case claiming he could not recollect that he had seen the first affidavit despite the fact that records seem to indicate he had signed two contradictory affidavits within 45 days in 2009.
“The affidavit controversy is only to divert attention from the real issue in the Ishrat Jahan case. Real issue is whether there was fake encounter and whether FOUR people already in custody were KILLED in that FAKE ENCOUNTER,” tweeted Chidambaram.
He further wrote, “Coming to the affidavits, the home minister does not sign affidavits. It is signed by under secretary. Although I have no recollection of seeing the first affidavit, let us presume that I did. Then came the report of Magistrate SP Tamang. The report caused an uproar and there was demand mainly from Gujarat that Government of India should clarify or dispel misinterpretation being placed on the first affidavit. This is why a second affidavit was filed!” This is first time Chidambaram has reacted officially after an RTI reply confirmed that he had signed two affidavits in the case.
The first affidavit signed by Chidambaram on July 29, 2009 had mentioned that Ishrat and her three associates, killed in an alleged encounter on Ahmedabad outskirts in 2004, were affiliated to LeT. However, Centre filed another affidavit signed by Chidambaram 45 days later in which the LeT mention was dropped.
BJP raked up the issue in Lok Sabha on Monday accusing Chidambaram of playing with national security by seeking to dub a terrorist as a martyr.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Kirit Somaiya sought to know whether an official committee which went into the disappearance of four documents in the Ishrat Jahan issue has submitted its report.