‘Don’t force us to call in NIA for Ishrat case’

“Don’t compel us to hand over investigation of the case to a Central agency,” the division bench hearing the case told the government.

The court was unhappy over its directions not being heeded to entirely by the Gujarat government and felt there was an attempt to see that Satish Verma,one of the three members of the SIT formed by it to probe into the case,was not allowed to function.

The Bench comprising Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari has been hearing the petition moved by the parents of Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai,who were killed along with two others in an encounter by Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in June 2004.

Acting on the petitions,the court had formed an SIT comprising three IPS officers,two from Gujarat-cadre,Mohan Jha and Satish Verma,and one from Delhi-cadre,Karnal Singh. The SIT had submitted its probe status report before the bench recently and the court had kept hearing on the same on Friday.

After reading the report,the court asked Advocate General Kamal Trivedi,who appeared on behalf of the state government,as to why certain officers have not been transferred from their key postings as demanded by the SIT. The AG told the court that almost all the officers have been transferred as sought but,he added,he would have to check what were the “pressing” reasons for not transferring others. He assured the court that he would make a statement with that regard in the next hearing after “taking stock” of the situation.

At this point,Justice Patel,speaking on behalf of the bench,said that if this is the approach of the state government,then “we will be compelled to assign the case to some Central agency,if not CBI,like NIA (National Investigation Agency)”.

Referring to a complaint lodged against Satish Verma,who was not present in the court due to the death of a relative,with reference to the controversial visit to the Ahmedabad-based office of Forensics Sciences Laboratory and seizure of a computer hard disk from there,Justice Patel said it seems that attempts are on to see that Verma does not function.

“Any attempt to throttle the investigation will be seriously viewed,” Justice Patel observed.

Karnail’s transfer ‘surprises’ HC
On Friday,the court was surprised to hear that Karnail Singh,chairman of the SIT,has been transferred from Delhi to Mizoram. The court said it was not intimated to it by anybody. The court was informed that the Mizoram government has not given Karnail Singh permission to function on his Gujarat assignment. The court observed that it should have been informed about the transfer as a courtesy. Advocate General,Kamal Trivedi,requested the court that Karnal Singh should be heard over the issue.

SIT gets a rap for ‘poor progress’
The court also slammed the report submitted by the SIT,calling it a “poor progress of investigation”. It seems of the three SIT members,only Satish Verma was doing the investigation,the court said. Karnail Singh,having been transferred from Delhi to Mizoram,is doing nothing,it said. It then passed an order asking all the three SIT members to file individual reports before the Registrar (Judicial) of the HC by April 20. The court has asked all of them to mention as to what they have done so far with reference to the investigation of the case and kept the matter for further hearing on April 21. For Karnail Singh,the court kept it optional to file the report.