Top cop Verma moves Gujarat HC on govt notice to vacate flat

Senior IPS officer Satish Verma, who probed the 2004 Ishrat Jehan encounter case, has approached the Gujarat High Court challenging a notice asking him to vacate the state government flat he occupies here.
The notice had been issued by the state government, which has asked him to vacate the flat here since he has been allotted an official residence in the North East, where the Gujarat-cadre officer is at present posted.
Verma, who was in August 2014 appointed Chief Vigilance Officer of North Eastern Electrical Power Corp at its headquarter in Shillong, was recently transferred to Central Reserve Police Force with a posting in the North East.

He, however, continues to occupy a flat in Samarpan Government Colony in the city where his family members reside.
The police officer was allotted a bungalow at Shillong after his posting there. The Gujarat government issued him a notice, stating he cannot occupy two official flats and should give up the apartment here as he has been transferred to CRPF.
Verma, in a special civil application filed earlier this week, has said All-India Services Rule allows an officer to occupy two flats in case he is transferred to the North East.

The matter will come up for hearing before Justice R H Shukla tomorrow. The state government, meanwhile, has filed a caveat in the case.

The 1986-batch IPS officer was part of a three-member SIT appointed by the HC to probe the Ishrat encounter case.
He had taken a different stand than his two colleagues and filed an affidavit in the HC, saying the encounter could have been staged, and also cast doubt over police claim of Ishrat, a teenager from Mumbai, being a Lakshar terrorist.
After the SIT concluded that it was a fake encounter, Verma was made part of the CBI team that investigated the case and chargesheeted IPS officers, including P P Pandey, D G Vanzara and G L Singhal.
His recent application in the HC seeking a copy of the second charge sheet filed by CBI in the alleged fake encounter case was rejected.