Batla House encounter controversy : Agenda for the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Centre had honoured Delhi Police inspector MK Sharma for the Batla House encounter (after his death in the shootout). But a senior Congress leader now says the encounter was fake. The Congress should tell the people of the country as to who is speaking the truth,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters in Lucknow.

However, home minister P Chidambaram has ruled out any inquiry into the matter. “I respect his (Digvijay Singh’s) view (on the Batla House encounter). But an inquiry was carried out into the matter after I took over as home minister and we reached the conclusion that the encounter was genuine. Every authority which has looked into this case also reached the conclusion that it was genuine,” he said. “The matter rests where it stands today. I see no reason for reopening the matter now,” he asserted.


The Bharatiya Janata Party seems keen on putting the controversy over the Batla House encounter on the agenda for the Uttar Pradesh elections. On Wednesday, students demanding an inquiry into the encounter had burnt Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s effigy in Azamgarh. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh had shocked many in the Congress soon after by terming the encounter as “fake”.