BJP spokeswoman Meenakshi Lekhi played an audio CD of a purported telephone conversation allegedly between Rais Khan, a close aide of activist-lawyer Teesta Setalvad, and Sreekumar at a press briefing on Thursday, to "prove" the police officer and Setalvad were working in tandem to target the Modi government.
On his part, Sreekumar dismissed as false propaganda Lekhi's allegations, saying she had "misrepresented facts". In the recording, which the party claimed was also available on the internet, Sreekumar purportedly says, "Teesta helped me when the chargesheet (on fake encounters) was given to me."
BJP alleged that the former Gujarat top cop had earlier fabricated the Isro spy case of 1994, which he had probed while on deputation with the IB as deputy director. Responding to this, Sreekumar claimed the IB was not authorized to probe the case.
Sreekumar was, however, given a clean chit by the UPA government in the case in 2004. In return for this, BJP alleged, he launched a tirade against the Modi government when he was posted back to his parent cadre, Gujarat. Lekhi alleged that the "patriotic" Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan, a suspect in the spy case, was branded a traitor and ill-treated and tortured by Sreekumar during his 50-day incarceration.
Later, Sreekumar was charged on nine counts, including not preparing a written statement of interrogation of Narayanan, leaving the interrogation statements unsigned and undated and failing to conduct verification about the veracity of the statements of the accused persons as recorded by the IB team without assigning any reasons.
This resulted in irreparable loss and humiliation to respectable scientists of Isro and others, according to the chargesheet. However, in 2004, the home ministry dropped seven of the nine charges against Sreekumar "without any inquiry". "As part of the quid pro quo, he was expected to launch a tirade full of lies and untruths against BJP government in Gujarat for political reasons," Lekhi alleged.
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