The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is learnt to have told the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that 26/11 suspect David Coleman Headley has not mentioned Ishrat Jahan in his "official" confession. The MHA had sought a report after Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to clear the air on the issue. Confirming this, NIA sources said the agency has, however, asked the MHA not to refer to Headley's statement in any other case, as it is part of the "sovereign assurance" given to the US.
"The use of Headley's testimony in any other case may affect the 26/11 probe. The CBI can approach the NIA court for details," said a top NIA official. Earlier, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was reported to have claimed that Headley, in his statement to the NIA soon after his arrest in the US in 2009, had admitted that Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi had told him in 2005 about the failed operation involving Ishrat and the men who were killed with her in 2004.
When contacted, G K Pillai, who was the home secretary between 2009-2011, said: "To the best of my knowledge, there is no mention of Ishrat in Headley's 117-page interrogation report submitted by NIA before me." The NIA is yet to trace the origin of the report which is being circulated as Headley's testimony in which he mentions Ishrat. NIA informed the MHA that it had dismissed the report as "hearsay" and was yet to get any corroboration from the FBI.
The trial of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots will continue, the Delhi High Court ruled today. The politician stands accused of murder, rioting and promoting hatred between communities which allegedly led to the deaths of six people in the Sultanpuri area of the capital. Mr Kumar had appealed for the case against him to be dropped. In April, he had been acquitted of the killing of five Sikhs in the Delhi cantonment area, sparking angry scenes at the court where a Sikh demonstrator hurled a shoe in protest at the presiding judge but missed. The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in a third case in which Mr Kumar has been named. At least 3,000 Sikhs were killed after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. At the time, Mr Kumar, now 67 years old, was a Congress MP. Activists accuse the Congress of having turned a blind eye to the killing of Sikhs and allege some city leaders such as Jagdish Tytler and H.K.L. Bhagat -- who died in 205 -- incited mobs. Mr Kumar and Mr Tytler have always denied any wrongdoing. In April, a Delhi court ordered the CBI to reopen a case against Mr Tytler, though the investigating agency had cleared the politician.
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