[1]New Delhi: CBI director Ranjit Sinha on Thursday said that Gujarat IPS officer DG Vanzara’s resignation letter, in which he has indicted Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former state home minister Amit Shah, will be examined in the context of the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.
He also clarified that the agency was yet to receive the letter officially, even as the note by jailed encounter specialist continued to haunt the Gujarat regime and the ruling BJP.
Vanzara had resigned from service on Tuesday accusing the state government of having failed to protect the interest of policemen jailed for encounter deaths while implementing its “conscious policy”.
The development came on a day when the Congress demanded Modi’s resignation in the wake of a sting operation to “expose” a plan by senior BJP leaders to save Shah in the Tulsi Prajapati encounter case.“We will examine the contents of the resignation letter and see whether any fresh leads can be pursued from it,” the CBI director told reporters here. He said the probe in the fake encounter case was in the final phase and another chargesheet would be filed soon.
A PIL has also been filed in the Supreme Court seeking its direction to the CBI to get take steps for securing Vanzara’s “confession”. The IPS officer, whose resignation was rejected by the state, is accused in several fake encounter cases such as of Sohrabuddin Seikh and Sadiq Jamal.
The plea, filed by two advocates, alleged the content of the letter written by the IPS officer “clearly goes on to show in great detail the manner in which an encounter is carried out by state government”.
The issue rocked Parliament too, with the main Opposition coming under attack from the Congress, the JD(U), the SP and the BSP. In reply, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said though state-related matters were not discussed in Parliament, his party was willing to discuss the Vanzara issue, if the charges levelled by Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka are also taken up.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/vanzarajpg-036