Bid to throttle Ishrat Jahan probe irks Gujarat high court

A bench of the Gujarat high court on Friday warned that it should not be forced to hand over the Ishrat Jahan encounter case to a 'Central' agency. The court's warning came following its observation that the state government was trying to throttle the investigation into the case.

The court also directed the state government to transfer, within a week, three police officers who can influence the investigation. The recommendation for transfer of the three police officers was made by the three-member special investigation team (SIT) set up by the Gujarat high court to investigate the case.

Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari were conducting a hearing on the progress report submitted by the Ishrat SIT into investigation of the encounter in which Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed.

The bench expressed annoyance over the approach of the state government towards IPS officer Satish Verma, who is one of the three members of the probe team. During the previous hearing, Verma, who is at loggerheads with the other two members of the Ishrat SIT, had expressed doubts over the genuineness of the encounter. He had also demanded the filing of a fresh FIR against the officers who were part of the encounter team which had killed Ishart and three of her friends.

"Verma is trying to gather clues in the case and he is facing resistance," Justice Patel commented while hearing the case. "I will take a serious view of any attempt to control or throttle the investigation by the state." Justice Patel added that if this continues the investigation shall be conducted by Verma.

The judge also took serious note of the fact that two FIRs had been lodged against Verma, one of which was filed by his own colleague in the SIT, Mohan Jha, for conducting a raid on the Forensic Science Laboratory in Ahmedabad.

The bench also expressed dissatisfaction with the progress report submitted by Mohan Jha. "Prima facie, it seems the report is not to the expectation of the high court," the judge said.

Earlier, the Ishrat SIT had recommended to the state government that additional director general of police, CID, PP Pandey; SP, anti-terrorist squad, GL Singhal; and assistant commissioner of police (Special Operation Group), Tarun Barot, be transferred as they could influence the investigation.

While recommending their transfer, the Ishrat SIT had stated that as they were part of the police team that had carried out the encounter, they could influence the investigation. The probe team had also sent two reminders as the state government had not transferred the officers even after the Gujarat high court's order.

"How can one expect witnesses of the level of constable or head constable to support the investigation if they are working under these police officers?" Justice Patel asked during the hearing on Friday.

"The court should not be compelled to transfer the probe to a central agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Intelligence Agency," the bench said.

After hearing the case, the bench asked all three officers of the SIT to file a progress report on April 20 showing the sequence of investigation done by each of them. Karnal Singh, joint commissioner of police, New Delhi, who is that chairman of the Ishrat SIT, has been transferred to Mizoram. This development became a matter of debate during the hearing. The state government informed the court that Singh had been transferred to Mizoram and the Mizoram government was not inclined to spare him for the probe team's investigation. On that count, the bench said, "Why did the state government allow his (Singh's) transfer?"

The court also asked the Gujarat high court Registry to supply a copy of the case papers to Yogesh Lakhani, amicus curiae in the case.

Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter by the officials of the city crime branch, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004. The police had claimed at the time that Ishrat and her friends were LeT operatives on a mission to kill the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.