Hiralal Gautam,ex-police commissioner,dies at 72

Verma had cited this report in his defence before the Gujarat High Court. The state government had then told the court that this report was missing from its records.

The 1967 batch IPS officer,Hiralal,became most popular as Ahmedabad Police Commissioner in 1998-99. He was known as the ‘law and order expert’ in the Gujarat Police.

A senior retired ADGP officer,who knew Hiralal closely,said,“He was a law and order expert. He had struck peace in the communally sensitive Vadodara city as Commissioner of Police. Even after the Babri Masjid demolition that peace accord did not break for ten long years.?

Hiralal,in his capacity as IGP CID in 1997,had prepared the report of an inquiry into the encounter killings of Jasu Gagan Shial,Ranmal Ram Aher and Naran Bandhiya Aher on the directives of the Gujarat High Court. Jasu’s brother,Hiralal Shial,filed a petition seeking to reopen the case and probe the role of Verma.

Hiralal’s report on Verma was the only document that gave him a clean chit. However,when Verma submitted a petition in the Supreme Court,challenging Hiralal Shial’s plea in HC for reinvestigation,the state government claimed that the report was missing from the records. It raised doubts on the authenticity of the copy of the report that Verma cited.

The case is now being investigated by HC-appointed SIT,led by ADGP Shivanand Jha. Hiralal had been suffering from a long ailment. He had been admitted to Shalby Hospital for the last few days.

He was cremated in Ahmedabad in the presence of several retired IPS officers,family members and relatives.