Alleging they were being victimised on account of serious 'groupism' and 'in-fighting' among senior ranked IPS officers in the Gujarat-cadre,14 cops involved in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case have approached the Gujarat High Court (HC) with a petition seeking investigation either by the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other Special Investigation Team (SIT). The 14 cops,among whom is IPS officer G L Singhal,have alleged that Inspector General of Police,Satish Verma,who has been given full charge of the investigation in the case by the Gujarat HC is acting either at the behest of or in connivance with Senior IPS officers who have personal grudges against them. Verma was included in the SIT at the instance of Ishrat Jahan's mother,Samima Kausar. The High Court,in its recent order,had given full charge of the investigation to Satish Verma while making SIT member and Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Mohan Jha responsible for the administration work. Chairman of the SIT,Karnail Singh,was relieved from duty as desired by him. The court had also given Verma the freedom to include any officer of his choice of SP or DIG rank in the probe team. The petitioners apprehend that Verma might bring in an officer of his choice who might also carry a bias against them. The petitioners have said by the time the HC appoints a new chairman for the SIT,it is possible that Verma shall take 'prejudicial' and 'coercive' steps against them,virtually making the inclusion of new member in the SIT redundant. Alleging that Verma has been using 'extra legal' investigation methods to implicate them in the case,the petitioners have cited complaints of certain police officials related to the case against Verma using coercive tactics to extract statements as per his demand. These police officials include Moti Desai,Vijay Mishra and Shiv Singh. The petitioners have stated that with Verma getting full freedom in the investigation,the complaints against him might not be probed further. The petitioners have either demanded to amend the HC's earlier order or to form a new SIT consisting of IPS officers from any state other than Gujarat or to give the probe to the CBI. The 14 cops: G L Singhal (IPS,SP) Tarun Barot (DySP) J G Parmar (Retired DySP) D H Goswami (PI) B A Chavda (PI) K M Vaghela (DySP) R I Patel (DySP) K S Desai (PI) C J Goswami (PI) M T Vyas (PSI) N B Saiyyed (ASI) M N Menat (Head Constable) B R Bharwad (Constable) A J Chowdhary (Constable)
