Ishrat Jahan case: 14 Gujarat cops now seek CBI probe
April 26th, 2011 - 11:58 pm ICT by IANS
Gandhinagar, April 26 (IANS) In a turnround, 14 Gujarat police officers Tuesday urged the Gujarat High Court to reconstitute its special probe team in the Ishrat Jahan staged shootout or hand the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The plea comes days after the high court redistributed work among the members of its Special Investigation Team, relieving Karnail Singh as its head and handing over investigation fully to Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satish Verma while putting the other member, Mohan Jha, in charge of administration.
With Verma aggressively pursuing the case and now empowered by the high court to make arrests, the 14, including IPS officer G.L.Singhal, Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot, three other officers of equivalent rank and four inspectors, claimed, in their petition, that they were being victimised.
Mentioning their grievance against Verma, they have expressed fears of prejudicial and coercive steps against them and alleged Verma is acting either at the behest of or in connivance with senior IPS officers who have personal grudges against them.
They claimed that Verma has been using “extra legal” probe methods to implicate them in the case, citing examples of some officers against whom Verma allegedly used coercive tactics to get their statements recorded.
The petitioners sought the court either amend its earlier order or to form a new SIT consisting of IPS officers from any state other than Gujarat, or otherwise the investigation should be given to the CBI.
The court however rejected to entertain their plea Tuesday stating that there was no urgency of the matter. It said that the matter can be heard on May 12 when the hearing of the case is scheduled.
A division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari formed a SIT comprising Karnail Singh, Jha and Verma, directing it to probe if the shoot-out was genuinene.
In the last hearing, the court allowed Singh to be relieved from his duties as the chairman of SIT upon his request.
Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were gunned down in outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004 by the crime branch officers, who termed the four as Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
- Supreme Court restrains SIT in Ishrat Jahan case (Lead) - May 03, 2011
- Court appoints new head of Ishrat Jahan case probe team - May 13, 2011
- Delhi Police official to head probe team in Ishrat Jahan case - Sep 24, 2010
- Gujarat hampering Ishrat Jahan shootout probe: Court - Apr 08, 2011
- Maharashtra top cop seeks to opt out of Ishrat Jahan probe - Jun 25, 2011
- SC stays probe in Ishrat Jahan case - May 03, 2011
- Contempt plea against Gujarat disposed in Ishrat Jahan killing - Nov 22, 2010
- Ishrat Jahan case: SIT-summoned police officers fail to appear - Apr 29, 2011
- Ishrat Jahan case: Fourth chief named for probe team - Jul 19, 2011
- Team probing Ishrat Jahan killing seeks legal help - Dec 30, 2010
- Ishrat Jahan case: Contempt notice to Gujarat official - Apr 21, 2011
- Ishrat murdered by police: SIT - Nov 21, 2011
- Delhi Police officer to head probe team in Ishrat Jahan case (Lead) - Sep 24, 2010
- Gujarat government averts contempt in Ishrat Jehan case (Lead) - Nov 19, 2010
- Ishrat Jahan shootout: 'Now no one can call me a terrorist's father' - Nov 21, 2011
Tags: abhilasha, cbi probe, central bureau of investigation, coercive tactics, connivance, deputy superintendent, division bench, gandhinagar, gujarat high court, gujarat police, indian police service, investigation team, ips officer, ips officers, jayant patel, jha, kumari, personal grudges, probe methods, probe team