In an exclusive interview with Times Now, Former Home Secretary GK Pillai said the Congress party intervened in the investigation of the Ishrat Jahan case.
When asked about contradictory affidavits filed by MHA on Ishrat, Pillai said that it was not done at his level but at a political level.
“We enticed the LeT operatives to come to India and target PM Narendra Modi (then Gujarat CM) and we laid a trap and killed them,” Pillai told Times Now’s Prema Sridevi.
Pillai added, “IB had enticed and trapped them and then targeted them. We used a source who they (LeT) thought was their source. It is always better to know your enemy as he is coming in rather than wait for him to plan an operation on his own without our knowledge. Our source had in fact told that ‘look if you come in you can target Modi and other high profile people’ and the LeT decided to come in.”
He went onto say that the matter was politicised and a CBI inquiry was not required.
He added, “CBI had indulged in leaks. They should have exercised extreme discretion. If i was the home secretary, I would have called the director CBI and said look this is unacceptable. I personally would have not recommended a CBI probe into this case.
On Ishrat, he said, “Ishrat was a cover. This was an intel operation involving the LeT. If it was an intel operation, then you should not talk about fake encounter. We should make that distinction. We can't mix up the two. Ishrat knew that something was wrong. An unmarried Muslim girl went with a married person, spent nights with him as husband and wife. She was a cover for them.”
He further added, “It's true that morale came down of the IB. IB operations are not strictly within the ambit of the law. That's how it is all around the world.”
Ishrat Jahan was killed along with Javed Sheik alias Pranesh Pillai besides two Pakistani nationals viz. Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani who were all alleged LeT terrorists on June 15, 2004.
The matter had been a contentious issue since then.
The issue again came into prominence when David Headley during his deposition via video conference from a US prison in regards with a 26/11 court in Mumbai earlier this month said Ishrat Jahan was a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba's women's wing.
The BJP had since then said the Congress party had used the Ishrat Jahan case for electoral benefits.