Clarion India

NEW DELHI – The Home Ministry has dismissed an Indian Police Service officer, Satish Chandra Verma, who had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its investigation into the fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan, a month before he was scheduled to retire.

“The Home Ministry dismissed Verma on August 30 a month before he was to retire on September 30, but the Delhi High Court has given him time till September 19 to use his legal options,” a senior Home Ministry official was quoted by NDTV as saying.

Verma has challenged and filed a petition in the Supreme Court against two orders of the high court. The matter is listed for September 16.

If the dismissal comes into effect, he won’t be entitled to pension and other benefits.

The Home Ministry passed an order on August 30 dismissing Verma from service on grounds related to departmental proceedings, one of which includes “talking to the media which dented the country’s international relations.”

The Gujarat government had also refused Verma promotions due to departmental cases against him.

Verma, a 1986-batch IPS officer, is serving as Inspector General of Police (IGP) while his juniors of 1987 and other batches are serving as Director General of Police rank officers.

Verma is posted with the CRPF in Coimbatore. “There is a training school and he is posted as Director there,” an official said.

Verma was part of the probe into the Ishrat Jahan case, first as a member of the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team and then leading the CBI investigation on the court’s order. He has had run-ins with the state government, then headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi before he became Prime Minister.

In 2014, Verma had said in a petition against his abrupt transfer to the northeast on central deputation that his investigation into the Ishrat Jahan case was the reason why “he was being consequently antagonised since 2010-11”.