The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hit back at Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh for his latest jibes on the saffron outfit in the Ishrat Jahan case, saying the latter is in the habit of making baseless allegations.
"I have seen his allegations; they are not even fit to be commented upon. Yes, he is the same person who went to Ajamgarh to publicly declare terrorist killed in Batla House in Delhi who had killed a brave police inspector are innocent. His party had to disown him. He is in the habit of making baseless allegations," said BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
"I condemn outright the irresponsible statement of a leader who is keen to remain in the limelight," he added.
Digvijay Singh's comments had sought to drag the BJP top brass in the Ishrat Jahan case, including Lal Krishna Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Digvijay Singh had told a newspaper that the chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case mentions the involvement of IB Special Director Rajinder Kumar who had worked closely with Swaraj Kaushal (Sushma Swaraj's husband) when he was the Mizoram Governor, and was posted at Intelligence Bureau in Chandigarh, when Modi was general secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh, and was appointed joint director, IB, Ahmedabad when Advani was the Union Home Minister.
Digvijay Singh, however, made it clear that he was not trying to suggest any link between the top BJP leaders and IB Director, but was just stating the facts.
The CBI which filed its first chargesheet in the case last week claims that Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student, was shot dead in a staged encounter in "cold blood." The agency said the killing was a joint operation between the Gujarat Police and the state's Intelligence Bureau.
Seven policemen have been accused of charges that include conspiracy, murder, and destruction of evidence. They include top officers DG Vanzara, already in jail, and PP Pande, who is absconding.
The CBI also said that it will further investigate the alleged roles of Rajinder Kumar, who was then the Gujarat station chief of the Intelligence Bureau and three other officers from his agency.
Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbai, was killed in an encounter along with three others on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004.
