Policemen who testified before the CBI, on the possibility of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former state home minister Amit Shah knowing about the Ishrat Jahan encounter, in advance, told the agency, that, they had now decided to tell the truth in order to save innocent men named in the original FIR, and that their earlier statements had been made under pressure from senior officers.
"The reason, I believed, is that, innocent officers and men might suffer and wrong motives may be attributed to what they did as part of their duty and in compliance of the instructions of their senior officers. However, I understand now that the converse is true, and that unless the truth is disclosed the officers and men who didn't commit a serious crime may also get involved in the charge of conspiracy... and our statements... would implicate them in this case," Goswami said.
Goswami was an investigating officer for the Gulberg Society massacre case in the Supreme Court-appointed SIT under former CBI director RK Raghavan.
Other policemen came with reasons like "pressure from seniors" and being "afraid" of the consequences, for not telling the truth for nine years. Most of these witnesses testified at least four times before the case went to CBI: before Crime Branch investigator ACP Parixita Gurjar in 2004, then before the Gujarat High Court-appointed SIT in 2009, and twice in 2011 before the SIT. * In his statement to CBI DSP G Kalaimani, retired ASI Nizamuddin Saiyed, who witnessed the abduction of Ishrat and Javed Sheikh, said he was under "tremendous pressure not to disclose the truth", and had got the courage to defy the pressure only after the encounter was proved to be false
No comments: