By IANS,
Gandhinagar : The Gujarat High Court was Thursday told that Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satish Verma, who is a member of the court-appointed probe team in the Ishrat Jahan case, is likely to face charges of negligence in an 18-year-old case.
Advocate General Kamal Trivedi Thursday informed a bench of Justices Jayant Patel and J.C. Upadhayay hearing a review petition by Verma, seeking protection over government’s coercive action against him in the Gosabara arm landing case, that recommendation has been made to initiate actions against him and is pending before the authorities.
His statement came after the bench wanted to know what action the government proposed to initiate against Verma. Trivedi however did not disclose the nature of action proposed by the state.
In his plea filed Wednesday, Verma contended that he might be targeted by the state government as he had taken a strong stand in the probe and sought filing of an case against the policemen who were part of the team that gunned down the Mumbai college students and three others.
Varma’s plea came after a bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhya and Justice J.B. Pardiwala ordered the state government to act upon a report prepared by Additional Director General of Police (Administration) Pramod Kumar accusing Verma, IPS officer Atul Karval and police inspector Sukhdevsinh Zala of letting off Sattar Maulana, a key accused of the Gosabara arm landing case, when they were posted at Porbandar in 1993.
A part of the RDX consignment landed at Gosabara near Porbandar was used in the Mumbai serial blasts.
The government entrusted the task to Promod Kumar following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by senior lawyer and former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Yatin Oza seeking action against the officers as they acted against national interest.