Shivraj Patil rejects Digvijaya's claim, says Batla encounter was 'genuine'

Former union home minister Shivraj Patil on Wednesday reaffirmed that the 2008 Batla House encounter was genuine and asked Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh to prove his claim on the same.

"I had told at that time that on the basis of information received from the police and taking into consideration all facts, according to me it was a genuine encounter. I cannot change my stand on a daily basis," Patil told ANI.

"If someone says something otherwise then it's his responsibility to prove it. If he is saying that it was a fake encounter then he should prove it," he added.

The Congress general secretary yesterday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi led-NDA government to order a judicial probe into the 2008 encounter at Batla House in Delhi in which two suspected terrorists and a police officer were killed.

"Batla House encounter was fake. I dare the BJP to go for a judicial probe. I still stand by my remarks on the encounter. I don't know who is Bada Sajid or Chhota Sajid," Singh said.

The encounter, which had taken place during the former UPA regime, recently came into news amid a claim by an alleged ISIS operative that he had fled Batla House right before the police raided it.

Batla House encounter, officially known as Operation Batla House, took place on September 19, 2008, against Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi, in which two suspected terrorists were killed while two other suspects were arrested.

Encounter specialist and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police action, was also martyred during the incident.

According to the reports, Mohammed Sajid alias Bada Sajid is one of the six persons who feature in the 22-minute video allegedly posted by the Islamic State recently, however he was one of the terrorist who was claimed killed in the encounter.

A Delhi court had in 2013 sentenced to life the lone convict and suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmad in the case for killing decorated police officer Sharma and injuring two other policemen.