Claiming that Delhi Police created a case against his clients to prove a statement by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as correct, the defence counsel of two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspects Thursday sent a letter to the home minister, asking for the transfer of the case to the NIA.

Md. Shahid and Md. Rashid were arrested in December by Delhi Police from Haryana’s Mewat district.

Their counsel M.S. Khan has sought transfer of the case from Delhi Police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a fair probe into the matter, contending that his clients were made scapegoats.

“Rahul Gandhi made a revelation during his public meeting in Indore Oct 24, 2013 that an officer of the Intelligence Bureau briefed him about the infiltration of ISI in relief camps in Muzaffarnagar for the purpose of recruitment of youngsters. He further revealed that the said officer also contacted those youngsters,” Khan said in his letter to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

He said that on the basis of the alleged secret input received from the intelligence agency, “those two people have been connected in such a manner so as to prove the contents of the speech of Rahul Gandhi as true”.

Delhi Police, on the basis of inputs by an intelligence agency, registered in December a case of criminal conspiracy and membership of the banned terrorist outfit.

Acting on the information, Shahid and Rashid were arrested.

Delhi Police sources earlier said Shahid and Rashid with another LeT member went to collect scriptures from Muzaffarnagar to radicalise the riot victims to join the outfit.

Counsel Khan said there were several loopholes in the story projected by police, but those cannot be disclosed as it would destroy the defence of the accused.

Citing a matter against suspected Hizbul militant Liyakat Ali, Khan requested the home ministry to direct the NIA to investigate his clients’ case in a fair and impartial manner, saying that the matter has national ramifications.

Liyakat Ali was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror attacks in the capital in March 2013. He was later granted bail by a special NIA court in May 2013.

In March 2013, the home ministry had issued a notification facilitating the NIA to take over the case after Ali’s arrest generated conflicting versions from Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir Police.

  Delhi Police, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), rahul gandhi