No idea about Ishrat row, case file never came to me: Former home minister Sushil Shinde

March 4, 2016

Mumbai, Mar 4: Amid the row over Ishrat Jahan case, former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Friday that he had no knowledge of the issue as no file came to him.

"I have no idea about this. The Ishrat Jahan case file never came to me," Shinde said in Mumbai.

"All claims, including those by the ex-NIA official, are baseless," Shinde said, when asked about remarks of former NIA official Loknath Behera.

"Nobody came to me and I did not speak to anybody about this case," Shinde said. He was the home minister from July 2012 till May 2014 in the UPA-II government.

Shinde's comments came in the backdrop of allegations that the previous Congress-led UPA government tried to manipulate Headley's testimony on Ishrat Jehan's alleged terror links.

Behera, an IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was part of the NIA team that travelled to the US in 2010 to question Headley. He has said that he "did not remember exactly what Headley had spoken about Ishrat". But when he recently heard about his video deposition before the Mumbai court, he could recall "the same things" Headley had told to an NIA team in 2010.

Ishrat (19), Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Gujarat police had then claimed that the four, with links to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had come to the city to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

While testifying recently before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Headley had said that Ishrat was an LeT operative.

Comments

Ishrath died , one day headly will die and Shinde will die. if in court of this world there is no justice. On day of judgement Allah will judge all cases and there will be no least discrimination. And those who to be punished will be punished.and punishment of Allah will be severe.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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