'BJP shouldn't be afraid of CBI probe if clean'

Hitting out at BJP for making allegation that CBI was being misused to frame Narendra Modi in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, Congress today asked if the Opposition party is in fact "clean", since they appear to be afraid of the CBI probe.

Hitting out at BJP for making allegation that CBI was being misused to frame Narendra Modi in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, Congress on Saturday asked if the Opposition party is in fact "clean", since they appear to be afraid of the CBI probe.

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"People, who are not guilty...should not be worried...If they (BJP) are clean, why they are afraid of probe? Why do they expect that law should not take its course?" Congress spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das told reporters in New Delhi.

Investigation and fact finding are just the procedures. "Unless and until the highest court convicts a person, you can not say that the person is guilty," Das said.

He was responding to questions on BJP's charge that Congress was trying to frame Modi in the Ishrat Jahan case.

"Congress has a pathological hatred against Narendra Modi even though people adore him for impeccable integrity and outstanding record of governance. In spite of repeated defeats in elections, CBI is being abused as an instrument to frame him on questionable, collusive and spurious testimony," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had told PTI on Friday.

Unimpressed by the Union Cabinet's decision to set up a collegium for choosing CBI Director, BJP had also alleged that the government was not serious about granting autonomy to the probe agency and continues to misuse it for political gains.

Countering the allegations, Das said at a time when the government is talking of giving autonomy to the probe agency, is it relevant to "raise fingers on CBI".

He also hit out at BJP over the continuance of Gujarat water resources minister Babubhai Bokhariya even after his conviction by a sessions court in a illegal mining case.