New Delhi, August 11: With the BJP pouncing on the opportunity provided by Mamata Banerjee to demand a CBI probe into the death of Maoist spokesperson Cherukumari Rajkumar alias ‘Azad’ on the lines of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, the Congress suggested that theTrinamool Congress chief could approach a court of law or the NHRC on the issue.
“The Congress has never been a supporter of fake encounters… We are not in the business of handling out certificates about the genuineness of any police or administrative action. It is not our job to comment upon every administrative action,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
Adding to the Congress’s Mamata discomfiture was the BJP’s call for a CBI probe. While it attacked Mamata inside Parliament, outside it drew a parallel with the Sohrabuddin case.
“The Sohrabuddin encounter is an old case but the government has ordered a CBI inquiry. Here the matter is more serious as a Central minister is saying that the Maoist leader was murdered. We feel a CBI inquiry should be ordered into the death of Azad,” said Gopinath Munde.
Tewari said Mamata could always go to the NHRC and courts. “She is a Union minister and an ally. If an ally has a certain perception about a particular issue, same benchmark of institutions available also applies to the ally.”
——-Agencies