Ishrat Jahan case: CBI gets 16 days to charge-sheet, but Satish Verma for only 5 days

After it rapped the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week for failing to file charge sheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, the Gujarat high court on Tuesday set two deadlines for the central probe agency – one to submit its charge sheet and eventually the final report, and another for relieving IPS officer Satish Verma from the investigation.

The HC had set the outer limit for CBI to submit the charge sheet to the appropriate court by July 4, 2013. It had directed the state government to allow services of Verma to the CBI till June 23, 2013, but has asked him to rejoin the state police by July 24, 2013. The court, comprising of a coram of justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari, had also directed CBI to submit the final report in the investigation by July 24, 2013.

In its three-point order on Tuesday, the court directed the CBI to focus and conclude its probe with regard to illegal custody of the deceased and their encounter thereafter, instead of focusing on other aspects like status and background of the victims.

The CBI, it was observed by the court earlier, is focusing on the background of the deceased as terrorists. To this the court said that even if they were terrorists, no law allows police officials to kill them in encounters. The HC wants to ensure that the investigation is completed well in time to reveal the information right from the time they were intercepted to the time they lost their lives.

After the arguments of advocate Ejaz Khan, representing the CBI asking to extend Verma’s services, the court allowed a reasonable time for Verma’s services to CBI, wherein the probe body can get his inputs and work on it. CBI asked for 15 days extension of Verma’s services, and the state government didn’t want to spare him for even a single day; but the court allowed CBI five more days.