Probe against Verma should be completed in 3 months: Gujarat HC

In a setback to Satish Verma, who assisted CBI in Ishrat Jahan case, Gujarat HC dismissed his plea challenging investigation ordered against him.

Ahmedabad: In a setback to senior IPS officer Satish Verma, who assisted CBI in Ishrat Jahan case, Gujarat High Court on Friday today again dismissed his plea challenging investigation ordered against him in three cases of death where police are allegedly involved. Noting that the High Court has the power to order probe, Justice Anant Dave directed Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) to continue the probe into deaths of three persons in 1996-97 in Porbandar, when Verma was Superintendent of Police there, and submit report in three months. The division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and J B Pardiwala had yesterday dismissed Verma`s petition against the court`s earlier order, whereby investigation was initiated. He made a fresh plea to the single judge today, which too was dismissed.

Verma had given crucial help to CBI in Ishrat Jahan case. The CBI eventually concluded that the encounter in which Jahan and three others died was fake, and it had been carried out jointly by Gujarat Police and Intelligence Bureau. The cases against Verma date back to the period when he was Porbandar SP. Action Committee for Prevention of Police Atrocities had moved the High Court in 1997 seeking CBI probe into these cases. In 2011, Hiralal Shila, brother of one of the victims, moved the court again, saying that police were not conducting probe despite a 1998 HC order. In April this year, Verma moved Supreme Court against the order of probe by HC. But the apex court asked him to approach the High Court afresh. Shial`s brother Jasu and Ranmal Ram Aher died in separate encounters with police, while Naran Bandhiya Aher, accused in a TADA case, was found hanging from a tree near the police station a day after his arrest. Police had said that he ran away from custody and committed suicide. PTI