Ishrat case: Senior police officer to lead new SIT team

The division bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari on Friday constituted a new special investigation team (SIT) comprising three IPS officers to probe the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The new SIT would be headed by a senior IPS official of Union territory cadre posted in Delhi.



The division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari, hearing the review petition filed by Gopinathan Pillai, father of Javed alias Pranesh Pillai, had asked the parties to submit the names of the officials who could investigate the case --- and had said that they should be of a rank senior than the alleged accused.



The Gujarat government and the petitioner had submitted the names of the officers they would want to be in the new SIT last week, but the Union government had submitted the names only early this week.



The state government on Friday had suggested handing over the case to the newly constituted Monitoring Authority under a notification dated September 16. The advocate general, pressing for the investigation be made by the state police, made a statement that the state does not want any outside officer to investigate the probes in the state. The court heavily criticised the submission and turned down the plea.



After considering the names submitted by the parties, the court chose three officials to constitute the team. The new SIT will be headed by Karnail Singh, joint police commissioner, Delhi, and Satish Verma and Mohan Jha - both from Gujarat. It has been asked to submit its report within three months of the issuance of the notification.



The decision came during the hearing of a petition filed by the father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, a suspected terrorist killed along with Ishrat, seeking review of the high court\'s earlier order transferring the probe in the case to the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. However, The SIT, probing some of the 2002 riot cases, had earlier conveyed to the court its inability to investigate the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.



Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbai college-going teenager, along with Javed, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in a suspected staged shoot-out by crime branch officers near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.


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