In a surprise move, Gujarat government on 28 May reinstated suspended IPS officer GL Singhal, an accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case whose recording of phone conversations had brought to light the snooping scandal allegedly involving Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah. State Director General of Police P C Thakur reportedly said Singhal has been posted as Group Commandant of State Reserve Police at Gandhinagar.
While investigating the Ishrat case, the CBI had raided Singhal’s house and seized a pen drive containing 267 recordings. One of the recordings was claimed to contain conversations between law officers of the state and ministers allegedly making plans to derail the Ishrat case probe, while some others purportedly had conversations between former Minister of State for Home Shah and Singhal making plans to snoop on a woman architect at the behest of “Saheb”. It was alleged that Saheb stood for Narendra Modi.