Missing Ishrat files: Probe will focus on P Chidambaram too

The Ishrat Jahan issue is far from over. With the Delhi Police registering an FIR to probe into the missing files, the political heat is bound to rise and the alleged role of former home minister, P Chidambaram on the missing files will be the focus of the probe.

After filing an FIR in the Ishrat Jahan missing files case, the focus of the probe is likely to be on former home minister, P Chidambaram. There has been a mystery over the files that have gone missing from the Home Ministry.

The police will probe the missing of five key documents which had led to the preparation of the second affidavit. While in the first affidavit the union government had said that there were details about Ishrat's terrorist links, in the second one these points were omitted. Ishrat Jahan was killed in an encounter at Gujarat in 2004.

Chidambaram will be the focus

After the filing of the second affidavit in 2009, the BJP accused the Congress and Chidambaram in particular of changing the narrative. The BJP said that between the two affidavits, Ishrat Jahan went from terrorist to innocent girl killed in a fake encounter.

The BJP after coming to power at the centre decided to revisit this case and find out what led to the narrative changing. Former home secretary of India, GK PIllai had said recently in an interview with OneIndia (Interview: Chidambaram should have guts to admit revising Ishrat affadavit and not hide- G K Pillai) that the affidavit was changed at a political level.

The home ministry had set up a one-man committee to probe into the missing files. The committee headed BK , was the additional home secretary, said in a 52-page report that the files were removed knowingly, unknowingly or misplaced. He said that the files had gone missing between September 18 and 28, 2009 when the UPA was in power.

Now with the Delhi Police registering an FIR, the probe will go deeper into how the papers went missing. In the midst of all the allegations and counter allegations, Chidambaram's name has cropped up several times.

The Delhi Police will also probe if the former home minister had anything to do with the files vanishing.

PTI