Pawar targets Modi during tour of Kalwa, Mumbra on Sunday

Union agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar set the tone for the 2014 election campaign by targeting Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi for his role in the encounter of Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbra resident, who was allegedly wrongly killed in Gujarat on suspicion of being a terrorist.

Union agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar set the tone for the 2014 election campaign by targeting Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi for his role in the encounter of Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbra resident, who was allegedly wrongly killed in Gujarat on suspicion of being a terrorist.

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Speaking at Mumbra, a Muslim-stronghold and presently an NCP dominated area, Pawar blasted Modi for praising the Gujarat police for their role in the encounter. “Modi used to boast that his police force undertook the encounter of terrorists. But, they killed an innocent girl,” said Pawar.

Ishrat Jahan, a Khalsa College student was killed with her friends on June 15, 2004. At the time the Gujarat police had claimed all four were terrorists, who had entered the city to kill Modi.

“It was sad that a responsible chief minister was praising the bravado of his officials,” Pawar said. "Even the high court recently pulled up the government for trying to shield the accused,” he said.