New Delhi, Oct. 16: Backed by Sonia Gandhi, members of the Congress’s minority cell will meet the Prime Minister tomorrow to ask for a probe into the Jamianagar “encounter” or a mechanism to assuage doubts over the incident.

The members made it clear that such a request did not mean they were casting aspersions on police. “We have full faith in the police and we are stressing this point to counter the allegation that just asking for a probe means we are anti-national,” one of them said.

The minority cell, which includes Salman Khurshid, C.K. Jaffer Sharief, K. Rahman Khan and Jamianagar MLA Pervez Hashmi, called on the Congress president shortly before their meeting today.

“She was categorical that as a political party, we cannot afford to let an entire community live under doubts and apprehensions. We don’t just have to convince ourselves but the people first,” said Imran Kidwai, who heads the cell.

The Manmohan Singh government had attempted to cap the controversy by getting the police to “brief” some central ministers who felt a sense of disquiet about the shootout that followed the serial blasts in the capital. But the move apparently did not go down well with the Congress.

One of the central ministers reportedly came around to the view that the “encounter” was genuine after being shown “evidence” garnered by the police. Congress sources questioned the claim and said the minister was in touch with the minority cell and covertly backed its demands.