HC stays govt probe against Satish Verma
/ 0
- Current News
- Saturday, 23 June 2012 08:44
- Published on Saturday, 23 June 2012 18:44
- Hits: 507
Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad
The Gujarat High Court has once again come to the rescue of IPS officer. The HC has stayed the state government initiated probe against Satish Verma who was a member of the SIT that probed the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
Facing heat from the HC, advocate general Kamal Trivedi, appearing on behalf of the government, assured the court that no action would take place in this regard. The bench also told the government that it has received a note that the CBI has demanded Verma’s services to probe the encounter case further.Â
The government had set up an inquiry by senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana on Verma and the investigation officer of the encounter case V R Toliya for their conducting a raid and seizing hard disk form the FSL at Meghaninagar last year as part of the investigation.Â
Verma moved the HC and presented his case himself, stating that the division bench had categorically directed the state government that any complaint against the SIT member would not be probed without bringing the same to the court’s notice. Moreover, the court had also directed SIT chairman in April last year to look into the issue of seizure of the hard disk. Verma has alleged victimization on part of the state government and also claimed that the inquiry was in clear violation of court order.Â
After hearing him, the bench reminded the government about its assurance given to bail out the state home minister, who was facing charges of contempt of court. Justice Patel said that the state government itself nullifies the orders of the HC, though specific directions were issued in this regard. Last year, Verma and SIT’s investigating officer V R Toliya visited the FSL at Shahibaug and as part of the probe in the encounter case, they seized a hard disk from FSL assistant director B K Mistry, which contained photographs of scene of offence in 2004, which were not furnished to probe agency. Mistry was forced to file a complaint against SIT officials’ gesture, as per Verma’s claims, by his superior officers. The JCP Mohan Jha and another SIT member ordered an inquiry into the incident.Â
The next hearing has been kept for July 13.
For news in Hindi see our Hindi daily Chaupal Chronicle
