Friday, August 31, 2012

SIT probe in post-Godhra riots nears end

Supreme Court has permitted IPS officer Y C Modi, to rejoin its parent cadre, Meghalaya after his tenure of two years with the Special Investigation Team probing Gujarat riots got over.
    The SIT has not sought any replacement for Modi, sources in the SIT said. This means that the intensive probe in the 2002 cases is nearing conclusion. The last report on basis of Zakia Jafri’s complaint was also submitted in February this year. Modi supervised the investigations carried out by IPS officer Himanshu Shukla.
    Modi was inducted in the probe team in July 2010 after the apex court ordered the removal of two officers — Geetha Johri and Shivanand Jha — from the team.
    The Gujarat cadre officials had to exit the SIT after various controversies and allegations leveled against them by the victim-witnesses.
    After the exit of the Gujarat cadre officials, SIT chairman R K Raghavan immediately requested the SC to spare two more IPS officers to assist the 2002 riots probe. However, this time around, there is no report of the SIT seeking Modi’s replacement.
    Earlier, Modi, a 1984 batch IPS officer, served as DIG CBI (Special Crime). He was the first appellate authority under Right to Information (RTI) in the CBI.
Satish Verma not to assist CBI’s Ishrat probe
Ahmedabad: IGP Satish Verma has dashed off a letter to the CBI director and has also sent a copy to the Gujarat high court registry saying that due to the surgery he has undergone following accident, he would not be able to join the Ishrat Jahan encounter probe from Monday.
    Sources said that Verma has sought accommodation for the probe period citing his injury. “Verma has written a letter to the Director, CBI expressing his inability to join the probe at this stage, as he had met with an accident and doctors have advised him a complete bed rest,” Yogesh Ravani, who is representing CBI in the high court said.
    Hehas also forwarded a copy of his letter to the Registrar General, Gujarat High Court, in which, he has expressed his regrets not to join the probe as assured and sought time till he recuperates from the health problem,” Ravani said. On July 14, Verma fell down in his bathroom and suffered a fracture in left femur bone.