‘Sting op’ puts BJP leaders in dock

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court against BJP MPs Prakash Javdekar and Bhupendra Yadav alleging that they tried to derail the probe in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case in which former Gujarat home minister and key Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah is an accused.

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court against BJP MPs Prakash Javdekar and Bhupendra Yadav alleging that they tried to derail the probe in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case in which former Gujarat home minister and key Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah is an accused.

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The charge: the accused procured blank affidavits of Prajapati’s mother Narmada.

A sting operation by journalist Pushp Sharma produced in court claimed that Javedekar, Yadav and the party’s general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal attempted to derail the trial by procuring blank signed affidavits.

Sharma told HT: “Six affidavits have been procured claiming that she is authorising two persons – part of the chain of BJP contacts – to take decisions on her behalf that she’ll abide by it.”

The BJP leaders are allegedly heard saying in the sting video — the authenticity of which is yet to be established — that the affidavit could be used to appoint a lawyer of their choice to represent Tulsiram’s family.

BJP leaders claim it is a frame-up, and that the sting journalist wanted to join the BJP.

“It proves that the BJP leaders were trying to get affidavits from a poor, illiterate woman. Why did they want to do so?” lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was present at the press conference, said. “Why did are they interested in her affidavit? When a trial begins, the complainant has right to stay and speak. But if accused’s man talks on behalf of complainant too, it can derail the trial.”