Verma ‘prejudicial’, transfer case to CBI: 14 tainted cops to HC

Cops alleged to be involved in the Ishrat Jahan encounter say they were victims of infighting and groupism among senior IPS officers

There was a new twist in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case on Tuesday with 14 policemen alleged to be involved in the encounter filing an application in the Gujarat High Court to transfer the case. They have stated that they were victims of the “groupism and infighting” among senior IPS officers in the state. IPS officer G L Singhal and 13 other policemen in their application have demanded that the case be handed over to the CBI or a SIT constituted by officers from outside the state.
Ishrat Jahan and three others — Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar — were killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, in a police encounter. The police had claimed the four victims were LeT terrorists who were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Filing an application on behalf of the cops, their lawyers Nirupam Nanavati and Mitesh Amin maintained that their clients are anticipating arrest by the present SIT, which has now virtually become a one-man
team of IPS officer Satish Verma, following the April 21 order by a High Court Bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari.
Singhal and others have contended that handing over the probe to only one IPS officer would be ‘prejudicial’ to them.
They also expressed apprehensions that Verma could take coercive steps against them and falsely implicate them in the case. Senior counsel Nanavati submitted that there was “deep internal rivalry among the IPS officers”, because of which
his clients were being victimised. Justice Patel refused to hear the plea saying the division bench hearing the case was not present and will be heard when the matter is listed for hearing or along with the main case which is scheduled on May 12. Moreover, the police officers have not even been named accused in the case, the court said.
ATS SP G L Singhal, DySP Tarun Barot, Retd DySP J G Parmar, Retd DySP K M Vaghela, DySP R I Patel, police inspectors D H Goswami, B A Chavda, K S Desai and C J Goswami, PSI M N Vyas, ASI Nizamuddin Saiyyed, Head Constable Mohanbhai Menat, along with constables Balubhai Bharwad and Anuj Chowdhary had moved the application.