Satish Verma: Sherlock Holmes of the probe

Verma defied his colleagues in the SIT to dig out evidence that had been pushed under the carpet and proved the killings to be staged.

The 1986 batch IPS officer faced the brunt of the State Government after this,especially after he got legal clearance to assist the CBI in the probe.

Verma was severely criticized and faced allegations of supporting ‘a Muslim terrorist’. However,Verma recorded statements of some key witnesses in the case that testified Ishrat and Javed were illegally abducted from Vasad (Anand) and brought to Ahmedabad. They were later held captive in Arham farmhouse in Gandhinagar and killed early on June 15,2004.

His biggest move was raiding the forensic science laboratory in Ahmedabad to seize a hard disk containing old photographs of the encounter case. It was these photographs that helped SIT find out that the bodies of victims that were riddled with AK-56 bullet wounds also had 9mm wounds fired from revolvers at close range.

Verma called for Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to reconstruct the encounter that fixed accused cop Girish Singhal and his colleague NK Amin of the crime branch.

Singhal and Amin who said they had fired from a distance,could not justify the original photographs which showed close range shots and difference in measurements of bullet wounds other than AK-56 wounds on the bodies.

Verma also sent the reconstruction report and photographs to an engineering college in Berkley (USA) which said that CFSL recordings were erroneous. Verma’s close investigation based on forensic,scientific evidences and witness testimonies gave a clean chit to Ishrat while police records were found against Javed and two alleged Pakistanis Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar.

As a co-investigator with CBI,Verma aided the agency in recording testimonies of important witnesses. He grilled suspended cop N K Amin and G L Singhal in CBI custody.

When Verma got on the Ishrat case,he was joint commissioner (traffic) in Ahmedabad city. However,within 16 months he was shunted to the Police Training College (PTC) in Junagadh in April 2012.

Soon after his term with PTC began Gujarat HC ordered him to assist CBI. The CBI sought his extension twice to continue getting his guidance. His assistance had allegedly become a threat to absconding cop Pandey who expressed his apprehension to appear before CBI till Verma continues to assist. The same threat was expressed by Singhal when Verma filed his affidavit in HC seeking CBI investigation. He finished his term with CBI on June 24 and was repatriated to State Police however his posting believed to be ‘punishment posting’ continues at the PTC.