New Delhi, October 4
Samajwadi Party has threatened to withdraw support to the UPA government in
the event a judicial inquiry establishes a fake encounter in Jamia last Saturday
and asked Home Minister Shivraj Patil to resign and stay out of office till such an
inquiry is completed.

SP general secretary Amar Singh stated this here today while on a visit to Batla House in Jamia Nagar where two alleged terrorists were killed in a police encounter on September 19, which the residents of the area described as fake.

Already several human rights organisations have demanded a judicial inquiry into the encounter to establish the truth.

Singh said, “Our party supported the Government due to pressure from the minorities to keep the BJP at bay. If the judicial probe proves that those arrested in connection with the serial blasts are innocent, then we will have to rethink on the support,” the SP general secretary said.

He also called upon the Home Minister “To resign on moral grounds till the judicial inquiry is over.”

Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of Delhi Police also died in this encounter.

Following the encounter, the Delhi Police announced the arrest of five suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists on September 19 and 21.

Political circles however see a political angle in Amar Singh’s move. The Congress and SP are currently negotiating seat sharing in UP.

But sources say Singh is not too happy with the way things are progressing with sections claiming that there is some move to keep Singh out of these negotiations.

Singh’s move is seen as an attempt to bring the Congress and the UPA government under pressure.

They point out that already AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh had positively responded to the protest raised by human rights organisations and Jamia university setup.

He had also implicitly questioned the police version saying “certain doubts have been raised and these need to be addressed.”

They also point out that Singh has belatedly woken up to the Jamia incident after nearly a fortnight and wondered what persuaded him to suddenly think of Jamia encounter.