Chidambaram admits to 'editorial' changes in Ishrat Jahan files

March 15, 2016 10:33

Former finance minister P Chidambaram has admitted to having made "editorial" changes to the affidavits filed in the Ishrat Jahan case.

Chidambaram was replying to a question at the launch of a book Standing Guard -- A Year in Opposition written by him, at a hotel in Mumbai.

Chidambaram said: "It was drafted, went to the attorney general, came to me. I, with a compulsive habit of all lawyers, made small editorial changes. This is a habit of all lawyers. Any lawyer would put a comma here and there or strike out a word.

"I don't think any of the files that came to me went back without making a change. That is a habit to make small changes here and there. Then the file went back to the home secretary. The files passed the home secretary's table at least three times."

"And now they say those papers are missing. To whose advantage has the vetted draft gone missing? I want the vetted draft. To whose interest is to say that the draft is missing? There is nothing to hide. I think the mystery has been unravelled now," he added.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday ordered an 'internal inquiry' to probe how files concerning the affidavits filed in the Ishrat Jahan case have gone missing, said informed sources.

Former home secretary GK Pillai had also claimed that there was "political interference" in the case which led to the deletion of reference to Lashkar-e-Taiba from the revised affidavit filed in 2009.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar arrested in Swati Maliwal 'assault' case

Bibhav Kumar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal who sent him to five-day police custody after the police sought his remand to question him about the incident and to retrieve data from his phone.

Back to back terror attacks in J-K: Ex-sarpanch killed, tourist couple shot at

Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.

I dedicate my man of the match award to Dayal: Faf du Plessis

Pacer Yash Dayal kept his cool in a tense final over to seal a 27-run win against Chennai Super Kings and send RCB through to the play-offs.

IPL PIX: Spirited RCB knock out CSK; qualify for play-offs!

A spirited performance from their bowlers saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru outclass Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to qualify for the play-offs.

Banking industry doyen N Vaghul dies at 88

Veteran banker N Vaghul, who led the transformation of ICICI into a private sector lender, died on Saturday afternoon due to health complications. He was 88. Vaghul took over the reins of ICICI, then a public finance institution, in...