SIT chief burnt former under secy with cigarettes, forced him to sign second affidavit in Ishrat Jahan case: Report
In a TV interview, RVS Mani reiterated his allegation that he was coerced by the CBI to sign statement saying the 2004 Gujarat encounter could have been fake.
RVS Mani, former undersecretary in the ministry of home affairs, on Tuesday reiterated his allegation that he was "coerced by the CBI to sign" the second affidavit filed by then United Progressive Alliance government in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Though the first affidavit stated that Ishrat Jahan had links with militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the second one said that there was no concrete evidence to prove such a connection. Mani told Times Now that then Special Investigation Team chief Satish Verma tortured him and forced him to sign documents implicating Gujarat Intelligence Bureau officers in the case. "The SIT chief burnt me with cigarette stubs. I was chased by a CBI officer," the former bureaucrat said.
Mani had requested the presence of the Chief Vigilance Officer or his authorised representative or a lawyer while recording his statement with the CBI in the case. He had also lodged a complaint against Gujarat IPS officer Satish Verma, who was part of the probe team, two days after his statement was recorded on June 22, 2013.
In the complaint, accessed by The Indian Express, Mani has stated, "During the course of recording of the statement, there were differences between the facts in my knowledge and the framing of the same by the IG, SIT, Satish Chandra Verma. Many a fact to which I was not privy to or officially never in my domain during the tenure in Ministry of Home Affairs were coerced to be signed by me....They [the CBI] have recorded some contents under section 161 of Code of Criminal Procedure that doesn't require the signature of the witness," Mani said.
The controversial case has come to the fore since terrorist-turned-approver David Headley told a Mumbai court that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT member. Following the revelation, former Home Secretary GK Pillai targeted his ex-boss P Chidambaram, saying that the former home minister was to be blamed for the changes in the second affidavit. However, Chidambaram shot back, saying Pillai was always kept in loop and that he was just as responsible for the changes.
