Another IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, Satish Verma, who investigated the Ishrat Jahan encounter case in Gujarat, has been sacked by the central government. The Delhi High Court has stayed the order of dismissal of Satish Verma till September 19. Verma was to retire on 30 September. Verma has approached the Supreme Court against the dismissal order.
In fact, on June 15, 2004, Javed, Zeeshan and Pranesh were killed along with Ishrat Jahan in a police encounter near Kotarpur Waterworks in Ahmedabad. At that time the police claimed that they were terrorists. In the Gujarat High Court, Ishrat’s mother Samima Kausar had demanded the CBI that the four, including her daughter Ishrat, were killed in a fake encounter by the police. The Gujarat High Court first constituted an SIT to investigate the matter and later handed over the investigation to the CBI.
Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Verma was a member of the Special Investigation Team and the CBI probe into its investigation. The state government had objections to the way investigation was conducted. The government accused him of targeting specific people with a hidden agenda instead of investigating the Satish Verma case on its merits.
After the formation of BJP at the Center in 2014, Satish Verma was transferred from Gujarat to Shillong on deputation. After that the Gujarat government started several departmental inquiries against him and issued notices to him in this regard. Verma had challenged the departmental inquiry being conducted against him in the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court had directed that the government should not take any final action against Verma till the matter is sub-judice.
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Satish Verma was due to retire on 30 September 2022. Earlier, on August 30, the Central Government had ordered the termination of the services of Satish Verma. The Central Government has brought to the notice of the Delhi High Court that the departmental inquiry against Verma has been completed and he has been dismissed after being found guilty.
Against this order, Verma filed a petition in the Delhi High Court. On this, the court passed an order on 6 September, giving interim relief to Satish Verma and stayed his dismissal till 19 September. Now Satish Verma has challenged his dismissal order in the Supreme Court. Verma is the second officer to be sacked in the fight against the government. Earlier Sanjiv Bhatt was also sacked and is currently in jail.