Gujarat snooping controversy: Modi confidante Amit Shah to reveal everything before Commission

New Delhi: Breaking his silence for the first time over the Gujarat snooping controversy involving a woman, when he was Minister of State for Home, Narendra Modi's confidante Amit Shah has said, he would tell the judicial inquiry commission, whether a surveillance was mounted or whether she was given security. Replying to queries from Rajat Sharma in India TV show Aap Ki Adalat, to be telecast tonight, Amit Shah said: "I had avoided speaking on this issue so far. "But for the first time, I want to say: whether the woman was under surveillance or was given security, I will reveal this before the judicial inquiry commission only.""For now, I can tell this much, that nothing was done which a man in public life should have avoided doing so", said Shah.The Gujarat government has set up a judicial inquiry commission headed by former High Court judge Sugnyaben K. Bhatt to probe into the alleged snooping on a woman by the state police.Replying to queries about alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin and Ishrat Jahan, Amit Shah said, Sohrabuddin was an arms trader from Rajasthan. "Nearly 200 AK-47 rifles, 250 hand grenades and Rs 1 lakh worth ammunition were found from his place. "I have no personal enmity with Sohrabuddin, nor am I supporting fake encounters, but the fact remains that in Gujarat only encounters of anti-national elements took place, not of anti-social elements.""When I was Home Minister, there were 1,500 encounters across India, out of which only 14 took place in Gujarat. Then, why is the CBI probing only these 14 encounters? Because they want to defame Modi government, nothing else."Amit Shah said, he was arrested for the Sohrabuddin encounter, but the Gujarat High Court said there was no prima facie evidence against him, and that verdict stands even today before the Supreme Court. "Till date no charges have been framed against me".Asked about his frequent phone conversations with police officer N K Amin before and after the encounter, Amit Shah replied: "The CBI has all my telephonic records for the last five years. During this time, I spoke to 130 police officers. Do you mean to say, I discussed encounters with each one of them?"I was the Home Minister. Do they want me to speak to the executive engineer of Water Supply department?"In a jibe at CBI, Shah said, "Fortunately Osama bin Laden did not die in an encounter in Gujarat, otherwise they would have framed charges against Obama".On the Ishrat Jahan encounter, Amit Shah pointed out that the disclosures made by DSP D H Goswami about a meeting on June 12, 2004 between him, P P Pandey, D K Vanzara and IB officer Rajender Singh, two days after which Ishrat Jahan was killed, were not true. "Goswami's statement before an Additional Judicial Magistrate was made after he was out on 'default bail', meaning the CBI did not file chargesheet against him within the stipulated 90 days. Clearly, both are connected".Shah further said, "I have nothing to do with Ishrat Jahan encounter. How can a Gujarat minister call in an IB man working under the UPA government? Was I so powerful?"On electoral prospects, Amit Shah, who is in charge of the party in UP, said, "I can say definitely, BJP will emerge as the largest party from UP, and the second party will be at least 20 seats behind. The Samajwadi Party will be obliterated".Shah refuted allegations that it was he who was injecting communalism in UP politics with the riots in Muzaffarnagar. "I did not go to Muzaffarnagar, I did not go even to the neighbouring districts. The main incident could have been resolved by applying CrPC (Criminal Procedure code), but police did not take action."Asked why two BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, arrested during Muzaffarnagar riots, were felicitated at Modi's rally in Agra, Amit Shah said: "They were not felicitated for the riots. They were illegally kept in custody under NSA, that's why we felicitated them on their release."Amit Shah said, the Gujarat riots are being "communalized" even after 12 years, though not a single town faced curfew during all these years. Aap Ki Adalat with Amit Shah will be telecast on India TV today (Saturday March 1 ) at 10 pm. The repeat telecast will be on Sunday (March 2) at 10 am and 10 pm.