Caught on tape – Gujarat minister admits influencing Ishrat probe

A key aide to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was then a minister of state for home, had told a closed-door meeting of confidantes on 19 November 2011, that he had tried to influence a police officer investigating the encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three other men in 2004 to go easy on the police officers involved in it.
“I had called up (investigating police officer) Satish Verma to my house despite knowing the dangers of it,” the then Minister of State for Home Praful Patel is heard saying in an audio recording of the conversation that one of the participants, police officer GL Singhal who is now an accused in the case, had secretly made. “I had spoken to him (Verma) for more than four hours and had told him to help these 18 persons (who were involved in the encounter).”
The audio recording is now in exclusive possession with TEHELKA. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted these tapes to the trial court in a sealed envelope. The high court had in 2009 made Verma a part of a Special Investigative Team it set up to investigate the encounter. Two days after the meeting where the secret audio recording was made, the SIT filed its report before the court in which it concluded that the encounter was fake.
Besides Patel and Singhal, others in that meeting included Gujarat Advocate-General Kamal Trivedi; senior IAS officer and Modi confidante GC Murmu; Singhal’s lawyer Rohit Verma; then minister of state for law Pradipsinh Jadeja, another accused police officer Tarun Barot and the then Ahmedabad Crime Branch joint commissioner AK Sharma.
In the audio recording, Singhal is heard voicing concern that if the high court accepts the SIT’s report and orders for an FIR to be filed, then many police offices who had earlier given statements supporting the claim that the encounter was genuine might wilt. “We have done tremendous damage control in the past one year. They (SIT) have taken statements of 300 people but only 2 statements went against us. The remaining 298 statements remained consistent despite the fact that they were called several times,” Singhal says. However, if a fresh FIR is registered many of them will be rattled. Their confidence is very high but they may change if the SIT gets an option.” In another conversation, Trivedi and Murmu are heard discussing the Supreme Court bench and if it can be influenced.
The then law minister Jadeja tells the others in the meeting that Amit Shah, who was the minister of state for home before Patel but had to resign after being named in another encounter, was constantly following the case and is on the phone time and again. Further Murmu and Trivedi are heard trying to reach Narendra Modi on the phone to appraise him of the situation and details of the meeting
TEHELKA had in July broken the exclusive story that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was asked by the high court to prosecute the officers involved, would be interrogating IB director Rajinder Kumar for his role in the Ishrat Jahan encounter. The CBI filed its chargesheet in the case on 4 July.

Source: http://www.tehelka.com/tehelka-expose-validated-cbi-says-ishrat-jahan-encounter-fake/

See how a innocent Software Engineer Taj-ul Kazi Siddiqui has been arrested of false & fabricated charges by the communal police force and after he lost everything, police says they have no evidence against him

Ten months after being arrested as a ‘terrorist’ for his alleged role in the 2002 bomb blast case in Mumbai, a techie from Hyderabad has been cleared of all charges. The Mumbai police have admitted to the special court here that they found ‘no evidence’ against him.

Much before his arrest, for 10 years, the police had been claiming that Taj-ul Kazi Siddiqui, 40, was the main conspirator of the 2002 Ghatkopar bus blast case.

In a charge sheet filed in 2003, he was named one of the 29 accused and was shown as wanted.

On November, 2012, a team of Mumbai police arrested him from Hyderabad and booked him under stringent sections of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. He was later released on bail in April, 2013.

Settled in Hyderabad for almost a decade, Mr. Siddiqui was a senior employee with HCL. He was immediately terminated from his job, for being ‘allegedly’ involved in ‘terror’ activities. For 10 months, his family repeatedly claimed that he was innocent.

No evidence

On August 1, Mumbai police informed the special POTA court that they found ‘no evidence’ against Mr. Siddiqui.

“He was not found involved in the case after investigation of related papers. After studying the mirror image of his laptop’s hard disk, no evidence of his involvement in the case or objectionable matter was found,” said the application submitted by the police. It also said that his e-mail accounts were checked and no evidence linking him to the blast case was found.

“Since no evidence against the accused has been found, it will be appropriate to discharge him from the case,” said the application.

Following the submission by the Mumbai police, special judge P.K. Chavan discharged him on August 8.

“He lost his job and reputation after the arrest. The police thought he was the prime accused, but could not gather a single piece of evidence against him. After causing such damage to his life, they finally admit that there is no evidence against him,” said Rebecca Gonsalves, Mr. Siddiqui’s lawyer.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/hyderabad-techie-cleared-of-terror-charges-10-months-after-arrest/article5017380.ece

‘It’s tough for us to even book a train ticket’

THE AFTERMATH:Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui, Mohammed Yusuf Nalband and Manisha Sethi of the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association at the release of a report on targeting of Muslims in terror cases, in Bangalore on Saturday.— PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTH

              

                 Forty days after journalist Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui, Mohammed Yusuf Nalband and the former DRDO junior scientist Aijaz Ahmed Mirza — arrested by the police on the charge of being part of a terror module — were released from jail, they are yet to get back their identity documents from the police, making it difficult for them to carry out their day-to-day activities.

Revealing this at a discussion, ‘Needle of suspicion: targeting Muslims in terror cases’, jointly organised by a coalition of 17 organisations, the three said it was tough for them now even to book a train ticket.

“These days we need to carry an ID card if we are travelling on a reserved ticket. One of us paid a penalty of Rs. 540 recently for not furnishing the ID. How do we explain that our identity documents have been seized by the police?” Mr. Siddiqui said.

Pointing out that the stigma of being accused as a terrorist continued to haunt them even after being let off by the court, he castigated the hypocrisy of the media in demanding an apology and compensation from the State for his illegal incarceration, when the media itself was not willing to apologise for the malicious manner in which it portrayed him.

Mr. Mirza said he had lost his dream job with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), where he was one of the very few Muslims ever to be appointed. He also narrated the trauma that his family went through in trying to contact him after he was arrested.

A report on the targeting of Muslims in terror cases in Karnataka, Permanent Suspects: Framing Muslim Youth in Karnataka , was released.

Introducing the report, V.S. Sreedhara of Peoples’ Democratic Forum said the report documents the stigma attached to persons falsely charged in terror cases, and the loss of life, dignity and livelihood.

Advocate S.A.H. Razvi spoke about the manner in which most terror cases were concocted and innocent people were framed.

“This is best illustrated by the arbitrary manner in which investigations are conducted,” he said.

Manisha Sethi from Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association spoke about her experiences in documenting the numerous false terror cases heaped on innocent Muslim youth across Delhi.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/its-tough-for-us-to-even-book-a-train-ticket/article4590219.ece