'UPA CONTINUED EFFORTS TO FRAME MODI AND SHAH UP TO DEC 2013'

Ex-MHA official, R.V.S. Mani says he was under pressure to name Modi and Shah as the masterminds in the Ishrat Jahan case.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Efforts by members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and top officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to implicate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah, in the encounter of Lashkare-Tayyaba (LeT) operative Ishrat Jahan continued up to December 2013, claims R.V.S. Mani, a former official with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Mani was the signing authority on two contradicting affidavits filed by the MHA in the Gujarat High Court in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The first affidavit was filed on 6 August 2009, while the second one on 29 September 2009. Mani was Under Secretary in the MHA and was questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by former IPS officer Satish Verma in Gandhinagar on 22 June 2013 where he was apparently asked to name Safed Daadhi (white beard, while referring to Narendra Modi) and Kaali Daadi (black beard, referring to Shah) as the masterminds who had plotted the killing of Jahan and three others.