Cong Demands SC-monitored Probe into Witness' Claims in Pandya Murder Case

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) The Congress Sunday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into claims made by a witness in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case that a former policeman had given a contract to kill then Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said even after 15 years of investigation into Pandya's murder, the guilty were still at large and the probe was "inconclusive".

Pandya was killed in 2003 while he was out for morning walk in Ahmedabad.

Azam Khan, an associate of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram Prajapati and a key witness in the case, recently claimed in the court that a former Gujarat IPS officer had given contract to kill the BJP leader.

Khan also said that while he had told the CBI investigator about it in 2010, the officer had refused to record it as part of his statement.

"This fresh evidence must be treated with due respect. An inquiry must be ordered by the Supreme Court. It should be monitored by the court because of the sensitivity of the matter and the attempts to cover it up.

"We also request the Home Minister to give protection to these witnesses who have made these statements because we should not find them too in the obituary column," Vadakkan said.

He claimed no interest was taken by then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and then state minister Amit Shah in the issue and it died a slow death.

"Everybody is acquitted? Nobody killed the Home Minister. This is what they tried to tell the world. Congress party demands that their role should also be investigated," Vadakkan added.

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