Ishrat Jahan case: Tortured with cigarette butts, forced to sign second affidavit, says RVS Mani

QUICK PILL

1. References to Ishrat Jahan\'s alleged links were removed in the second affidavit. Mani says as the first affidavit has all the facts, there was no need to file a second one. 2. Harassment by ex-SIT chief Satish Verma, \"Cigarette butts were put on my thighs\", he says. 3. He backs former home secretary GK Pillai\'s integrity. Pillai had revealed that someone at the political level did not want to expose the real picture in the Ishrat Jahan case.

In a major revelation, former undersecretary for internal security at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) RVS Mani said on Wednesday that he had filed the first affidavit based on facts in the Ishrat Jahan case, adding that he does not know why the second one was filed.

"I filed the first affidavit, it was approved by the Home Ministry and then the law secretary before it was filed. What was reason for the second affidavit, I don't know. I signed the document because as per the conduct rule three, when an order is received on the file, I have to execute it because before an order is issued by a competent authority or a senior officer, I can put my view points," he said.

Mani said that after a decision is taken, it has to be executed and so he was authorised to sign the affidavit.

"The Intelligence input conclusion is after the event occurs. I am an absolutely neutral person, I have no agenda. The IB is working very hard, there is no margin for error. The home secretary is a very upright officer. Pillai is an excellent officer and a man of very high integrity. So, I have no reason to disbelieve what he has said."

Putting the Congress in a spot, Mani pointed out that in the first affidavit he had provided all the details and none of the facts were denied.

"He (P Chidambaram) has only said that the IB inputs are not conclusive. If they were not conclusive, he should have said so then. We have something else to the contrary," he said.

Mani also alleged harassment by ex-SIT chief Satish Verma, adding that it is for Verma to answer whether he was working on someone's direction.

"Cigarette butts were put on my thighs and so many things happened. The interrogation started at around 9 AM, then Satish Verma joined the interrogation at 10:30 AM, which went up to 2:30-3PM in polite manner. After that, he (Satish Verma) became physical after 4PM. I informed the seniors. I have already filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court," he added.

Mani further alleged that Verma forced him to take the name of former IB Special Director Rajendra Kumar in filing the affidavit.

"I said that is not the truth, I am competent. I don't require an IB Officer to walk in and say sign the affidavit. I did not give in to his (Satish Verma) pressure. At 5PM, I said this is not right, my wife will go to the Chief Justice's house and we have contacts there," Mani added.

The former undersecretary for internal security also said that his phone was snatched and he was threatened to be taken into custody. He says:

"Pillai was not the home secretary. By then, the tenure had changed. RK Singh had come. The procedure is that I had to report to the office where I am working. They will forward it to the concerned ministry. In this case, at that time, I was posted in the Ministry of Urban Development. I recorded all these things. I put it up to my seniors. I believe that they must have forwarded it to the minister of home affairs."

Mani also said that he expected the government to protect his interest. He says:

"I have seen the file, I will use the word cross fire not encounter. If the inquiry into cross fire or encounter was the only mandate of the SIT, why was I called in for the investigation? I was not posted in 2004 in MHA, I came in 2005 or so. The Legal Attache in the US embassy Daniel had also written saying that it (Ishrat being a terrorist) is true".

In a startling revelation, Mani said earlier that he was coerced to file the second affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan case.

The second affidavit is the one in which the references to the alleged links of Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were removed.

What were GK Pillai's claims?

Mani's shocking claims come just a few days after former home secretary GK Pillai revealed that someone at the political level did not want the real picture to be exposed in the Ishrat Jahan case.

Pillai had mentioned that two affidavits submitted by the home ministry in connection with the case were contradicting each other.

The former home secretary had said there was no doubt that those killed in the alleged fake encounter in Gujarat had links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Ishrat Jahan was one among four people killed in the alleged fake encounter case in 2004.

Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, apart from two Pakistani nationals Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani, all alleged LeT terrorists, were also killed in the encounter.

(ANI)