File moved through GK Pillai’s hand thrice, at no juncture he made changes: Congress

NEW DELHI: As the government takes a relook into the UPA’s legal handling of the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the Congress came down hard on former home secretary GK Pillai for distancing himself from the filing of the second affidavit in the case. The party also hit out at RVS Mani, the under secretary, who signed on to the chargesheet.

“What is the credibility of these two? The former home secretary is speaking after a gap of six-and-a-half years. The fact of the matter is that the then home secretary had seen the affidavit. As home secretary, he (Pillai) had made a public statement on July 17, 2013, in Guwahati justifying filing of the two affidavits by stating ‘What is wrong with the two affidavits — one affidavit gives the basis of evidence in the file and the other one is only clarifying the fact that if you give information or evidence that one is a terrorist or alleged terrorist or a suspect, that does not give anybody right to kill them without a trial’,” said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Thursday.

The party, which is rallying behind then home minister P Chidambaram, is also closely looking at the sequence of file notings in the case.

Congress sources said the file moved through Pillai’s hand thrice and at no juncture did he make any change. First, they argue, that a decision to file a second affidavit was made after a discussion and then officials put up a draft after consulting legal officers. That was vetted by Pillai and then sent the file to Chidambaram who made changes and returned it to the home secretary.

They go on to add that was dissent expressed during this process.