Ishrat Jahan case files should be made public: Chidambaram

MUMBAI: Congress leader and former union home minister P Chidambaram has raised questions over the missing files and documents, which were officially studied by

MUMBAI: Congress leader and former union home minister P Chidambaram has raised questions over the missing files and documents, which were officially studied by the home department and attorney general, in the Ishrat Jahan encounter killing case.

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Chidambaram, who filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha from Mumbai on Tuesday, said he was in favour of the documents being made public.

“The fact that the papers have gone missing will benefit those who have been making accusations in the case. I wanted the file including the missing papers to be made public,” he said.

Chidambaram had said last month that an undersecretary had signed the second affidavit, contradicting an earlier submission that the 19-year old Ishrat was an LeT activist.

“It should be investigated and prosecuted in the court of law. One should come clear about which part of that affidavit is wrong either legally, morally or politically,” he said.

“The additional affidavit clearly says why it was filed and it did not nullify the first affidavit. The affidavit was filed after judge’s report that indicted the police and said it was a fake encounter and the people killed were in custody for at least more than 2-3 days. They were killed at midnight while sitting in a car and Rs1.06 lakh were planted on their bodies,” he added.

He also added that first affidavit disclosed about the intelligence inputs, but the inputs are not the conclusive evidence and cannot form any conclusion.