Investigation into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case is progressing at a snail’s pace, according to Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh. And, the slowdown began ever since senior IPS officer Satish Verma was taken off the case, he said.
In an interview, Pillai told dna that he was not satisfied with the manner in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been proceeding with the probe of late.
“I believe the Ishrat investigation was on the right track three weeks ago. And, it seemed like it would conclude very soon. But later, I was surprised to see that it had failed to name the big fish involved in the conspiracy, especially those who had abducted my son and killed him,” Pillai said, referring to Rajinder Kumar, special director of the Intelligence Bureau, and PP Pandey, additional director general of police.
He said that even though Pandey has been named as an accused, the CBI had failed to nab him. The agency had also failed to name Kumar as an accused in the charge sheet. “It seems the CBI is succumbing to political pressure,” said Pillai. He felt that the names of at least three officers were missing from the charge sheet due to the pressure being mounted on the CBI.
“I know Verma did not give in to pressure and that is one of the main reasons for sending him to Junagadh and restricting his movement so that he can be kept away from the investigation and be prevented from giving outside help,” he said.
Pillai said that the investigation, at this stage, had stopped at Pandey and it seems nothing would move till he was arrested. He opined that the pace of the investigation was pretty much fine when the Ishrat-special investigation team (SIT) had been in charge of the probe with Satish Verma being part of it. And, it continued in the same vein when it was handed over to the CBI who too had Verma’s assistance. But, once Verma was taken off, the entire probe got derailed, said Pillai.
The senior Pillai had approached the Supreme Court for investigation in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and. It was on his complaint that the Gujarat high court appointed the SIT and appointed Verma as its member.
Whatever important development that had occurred in the case, according to Pillai, was due to Verma’s determination to conclude the case. “The investigation would not have reached the level where it has today had Verma not been part of it,” he said.
Pillai said the articles seized by Verma after raiding the FSL (forensic science laboratory) office in Meghaninagar threw up many important leads and eventually the investigation proceeded in the right direction. “IB’s active role was revealed only after this seizure,” he asserted.
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