Journalism of Courage
After days of reluctance,senior Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer Dr Satyapal Singh finally took over as the chief of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter on Saturday.
Singh had recently written to the Union Home Ministry saying he was not willing to take up the assignment.
Singh arrived in the city in the morning and officially took charge at 11 am. He then held a two-hour meeting with other two SIT members,IGPs Mohan Jha and Satish Verma,and a few other officers in the SIT office at Shahibaug in Ahmedabad.
The 1980-batch IPS officer also informed the Gujarat High Court that he has joined. The HC had chosen him to head the SIT from a shortlist of other officers. I have officially joined today after the Maharashtra government relieved me from my charge there, he Singh.
Asked about his letter to the Gujarat HC asking it to relieve him from the SIT chairmanship,Singh said,I am here to stay.
The HC had appointed Singh as the new SIT chairman on May 12 after former chief Karnail Singh requested to be relieved since he was being sent from Delhi to his new posting in the Northeast.
After he was chosen to head the SIT,Satyapal Singh wrote to the Centre last week,requesting it to excuse him since he was not well versed in Gujarati,the language used in the case papers.
Singh had also argued he would not be able to do justice to the investigations since his former batchmate P P Pandey was among the 22 officers under the scanner for their role in the Ishrat Jahan encounter. Pandey is now the chief of State CID (Crime).
On June 6,Maharashtras Additional Chief Secretary U C Sarangi had written to Union Home Secretary G K Pillai,saying the state could not spare Dr Singh for the SIT job since he,in his capacity as the additional DGP (law and order),was required to handle law and order in the face of a number of farmer agitations and naxal threats.
A senior SIT officer said Dr Singhs reluctance over the new assignment was mainly because differences between the Maharashtra government and the police there over his SIT chairmanship.
