Maha can’t spare top cop to head Ishrat SIT

The SIT’s former chairman,Karnail Singh,had to leave the probe team after his transfer to Mizoram from Delhi. Subsequently,Satyapal Singh was chosen by the High Court to lead the SIT from a shortlist of three police officers.

On June 6,however,Maharashtra’s Additional Chief Secretary U C Sarangi sent a letter to the Union Home Secretary G K Pillai informing him of the inability of the state government to spare Singh for the Ishrat Jahan encounter probe.

She said the state was facing farmers’ agitation against acquisition of land for Jaitapur nuclear plant and several other projects.

Sarangi also mentioned the Naxal activities in the state and threats being received from international terror organisations as also the state having 720-kilometre-long coastal line,which is very vulnerable.

“Being in charge of law and order in the state,Singh’s presence and supervision in maintenance of law and order is essential,” the letter said,adding that “the services of Singh cannot be spared at this juncture without jeopardising the maintenance of law and order in the state”.

The letter also pointed out that the concurrence of the state government was not sought before including his name in the panel submitted to the Gujarat High Court. “Had it been sought,we would have pointed out our inability to spare the services of Singh at this critical juncture,” the letter said.

The letter also requested the union home secretary to inform the Gujarat High Court about the inability of the Maharashtra government to relieve Singh.

The probe into the Ishrat encounter case generated controversy after the departure of Karnail Singh from the three-member SIT. While Satish Verma from Gujarat Police was ordered by the High Court to conduct the probe,his senior Mohan Jha,the third member,was ordered to look into the administration of the case.

On May 4,the probe was stayed by the Supreme Court on after a police officer,G L Singhal,objected to only one member conducting the investigations.

Singhal is among those allegedly involved in killing four persons — Ishrat Jahan,Javed alias Pranay Pillai,Zeehsan Jauhar and Amjad Ali Rana — in the June 2004 encounter.

Singhal,along with some other accused policemen,had earlier approached the Gujarat High Court and demanded a CBI probe into the case,saying they had no faith in Gujarat Police investigations into the case.

The Gujarat Police had alleged that Ishrat and others with her were Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The case was closed by the police after preliminary inquiry but a re-investigation was started after the Supreme Court order on two separate petitions filed by Ishrat’s mother Shamima and Pillai’s father Gopinath Pillai.

A magisterial inquiry conducted by judicial magistrate S P Tamang had subsequently declared the encounter as a “cold-blooded murder” but the operation of its proceedings were stayed by the Gujarat High Court.