Ishrat case: Submit names for new SIT, Gujarat high court tells Centre

The Gujarat high court on Friday came down heavily on the Centre for not submitting name of officials who could be part of the new SIT team to be formed to investigate the Ishrat Jahan  encounter case.

The division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari had asked the parties to submit names of officials who could investigate the case on condition that the chosen officials are more senior than the officers accused in the case.

Justices Patel and Kumari had asked for the names after hearing the review petition filed by Gopinathan Pillai, father of slain Javed alias Pranesh.

The names were to be given by Thursday. Following the
court's suggestion, the petitioner's lawyer Mukul Sinha had submitted names of four IPS officers -Satish Varma, Rajnish Rai, Rahul Sharma and Tirthraj.

The state government on Friday submitted the names of 11 officials.  However, there was no response from the Centre which too had been asked to submit names of four officials.
Explaining the delay, advocate for the Centre said, "The officials who were to suggest the names were very busy with other national issues. Several meetings had been held to zero in on the names and they are likely to finalise the same in a couple of days."

The court got annoyed at the argument and observed that the Centre ought t to have considered the case and suggested the name.

Giving them a last opportunity, the court asked the Centre to
submit names of at least three officials for consideration to be
included in the new SIT. The case has been adjourned for September 21.