New Delhi, Jan 12: Controversy has erupted over the genuineness of the two-year-old Batla House encounter with Home Minister P Chidamabram locking horns with his party colleague Digvijay Singh after the latter once again raised questions about the veracity of the incident.
 Responding to Singh’s claim that the Batla House encounter was “fake”, the Home Minister said that the 2008 gun fight between security forces and gunmen in Delhi was indeed genuine and there was no scope for reopening the case.  “After looking into the matter, after I took over as Home Minister, we came to the conclusion that the encounter was a genuine encounter,” he said.
 Chidambaram’s response came after the AICC General Secretary had remarked in Azamgarh on Wednesday when he had said that he always believed that the Batla House encounter was “fake” and had tried to get Government and the Home Ministry to investigate the matter but could not succeed. Another AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who is spearheading Congress campaign in UP Assembly elections, had promised a group of students to look into all such complaints of fake encounters.
 Addressing meetings in Azamgarh, Singh had observed: “The Prime Minister and the Home Minister were of the view that the encounter was true. That’s why I did not press it further”.
 The Home Minister said it was the view of Digvijay Singh from the very beginning and he (Chidambaram) respected his view.
 “But every authority who has looked into the case, has agreed that it was a genuine encounter. So, while there is a difference of opinion, I think the matter rests where it stands today. I don’t think there is any scope for reopening that matter,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST