Hours after Narendra Modi promised to cleanse the political system and Parliament of criminal elements, the Congress accused the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate of being a “potential accused” in the Tulsiram Prajapati murder case.
Trashing Mr. Modi’s pitch against criminalisation, Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday pointed out that the BJP prime ministerial candidate’s close associate Amit Shah, accused in a triple murder case, was leading the BJP campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Not just that, of all the parties, the BJP had fielded the maximum number of candidates with criminal antecedents.
“Mr. Modi talks about freeing Parliament from criminals, and an accused in a triple murder is leading his party’s poll campaign,” Mr. Sibal said, stressing, “One wonders about the fate of our country and the moral bankruptcy of Modi and the BJP.”
Referring to VHP leader Praveen Togadia, who had reportedly urged VHP and Bajrang Dal members in Rajkot on Saturday to forcibly take possession of a house purchased by a Muslim businessman, Mr. Sibal said, “He always spreads venom. And he belongs to that category of people in this country who don’t believe in the unity and integrity of India.”
Meanwhile, the Congress approached the Election Commission requesting it not to post government officials owing allegiance to the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena and other similar organisations on election duty, raising doubts over their ability to conduct impartial polls.
Earlier, Mr. Sibal who described Mr. Modi as a “potential accused” in the Prajapati murder case, said Parag Shah, who had earlier worked in the Gujarat CM’s office, should be arrested as he had a detailed conversation with the police officer who had allegedly murdered Prajapati.
Providing call detail records (from a website “Truth of Gujarat”) of a conversation between Parag Shah, Officer on Special Duty (IT) in the CM’s office, and “associated” with the Anti-Terrorist Squad’s cyber cell, and Rajkumar Pandian, the police officer, Mr. Sibal told journalists that “This evidence, which has come for the first time, shows that the CM’s Office was directly involved in what was happening.”
Given this background, Mr. Sibal said the CM must have been aware of the Prajapati encounter carried out by police officers working in the ATS led by DIG D.G. Vanzara. The “circumstantial evidence,” he said, indicated that Mr. Modi’s office was fully in the know as to what was happening in the “conspiracy to eliminate” Prajapati in the fake encounter that took place on December 26, 2006, and the Chief Minister, therefore “is a potential accused.”
Under the circumstances, Mr. Sibal said he wondered why the CBI had not arrested Parag Shah and interrogated Mr. Modi: “The nation needs to know. The CBI needs to answer [this question].” Quoting Mr. Vanzara’s resignation letter, he buttressed the point that the Chief Minister was aware of the whole incident.
Mr. Vanzara had written: “We being field officers have simply implemented the conscious policy of this government which was inspiring, guiding and monitoring our actions from very close quarters.”
Prajapati, Mr. Sibal maintained, had to be “eliminated” as he was the only witness in the abduction of Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi, and his testimony as a witness “would have directly implicated all the accused. Hence it was the plan of [BJP general secretary] Amit Shah and others that somehow Prajapati should be eliminated.”
