Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday reiterated his demand for an "independent investigation" into the Batla House encounter case.
"The court has said the youth (killed in the Batla House incident) were terrorists. I had said that even if they were terrorists, it was extremely important to catch them alive to know who their real handlers are. There needs to be an independent investigation to know if it was necessary to kill them," Kejriwal said after Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmed was convicted of murder and other offences in the 2008 Batla House encounter case on Thursday.
"It must also be probed under what circumstances the police officer (Mohan Chand) was killed," he added.
Kejriwal's first 'Letter to Muslims' under the 'Why should AAP be believed?' heading had said: "The party has important members such as Prashant Bhushan, who has fought several battles to ensure Muslims get their due rights … Even today, he is fighting the court case against the fake Batla House encounter".
A week later, another letter said: "Several people have a doubt if those youth needed to be killed or could they have been arrested alive? If they were terrorist, then it was pertinent to arrest them and reach their handlers."