Ishrat Jahan case: Chidambaram denies signing second affidavit, shifts blame on Under Secretary

New Delhi: Amid ongoing fiasco over the Ishrat Jahan case in the Parliament,  former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that BJP was trying to divert attention by raising the affidavit controversy in the case. 

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said that the, 'Home Minister does not sign affidavits. It is signed by an Under Secretary."

6. The affidavit controversy is only to divert attention from the real issue in the Ishrat Jahan case. &; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

7. Real issue is whether there was fake encounter & whether FOUR people already in custody were KILLED in that FAKE ENCOUNTER. &; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

8. Coming to the affidavits, the Home Minister does not sign affidavits. It is signed by an Under Secretary.

&; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

9. Although I have no recollection of seeing the first affidavit, let us presume that I did. Then came the report of Magistrate SP Tamang. &; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

10. This report caused an uproar & there was demand mainly from Gujarat that Government of India... (Contd) &; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

11. (Contd) should clarify or dispel misinterpretation being placed on the First affidavit. This is why a Second, short affidavit was filed! &; P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 25, 2016

Media reports revealed that Chidambaram had in fact signed the first affidavit, which declared Ishrat and three others as terrorists, but gave all four a clean chit a month later as serious amendments were made in the second affidavit also signed by him.

The first affidavit in the encounter case stated that Ishrat was a LeT operative, who was part of a plot to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Chidambaram had initially claimed that the first affidavit declaring Ishrat and three others as terrorists was filed in the court without his approval, adding that he had made some editorial changes to avoid misinterpretation when the matter was brought to his notice.

Chidambaram, however, completely altered his stance in the second affidavit, saying that intelligence inputs on Ishrat and the three others did not constitute conclusive proof and favoured a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the encounter.