Centre serves notice to senior IPS Satish Verma for being absent on duty

The Centre has served yet another notice to senior IPS officer Satish Verma, who was a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the Ishrat Jahan case, seeking his reply to charges of alleged “misconduct” and “unauthorised absence” from duty. Verma, a 1986-batch IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is at present posted as Chief Vigilance Officer at Shillong-based North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO).

According to sources, Verma has been served with another notice, after he failed to comply with previous one, in which he was asked to furnish a reply in 10 days. He had been served with a ‘charge memo’ earlier this month.

The sources said since the Ministry of Home Affairs had not received a reply from the official, the authorities sent a reminder, asking Verma to respond as soon as possible, failing which “an ex-parte decision” would be taken.

The Home Ministry, which is the cadre controlling authority for IPS officers, initiated the action against him after NEEPCO, which comes under the Power Ministry, submitted a report against Verma, accusing him of being “absent” from duty “unauthorisedly” and travelling without permission, a violation of service conduct rules for officers of All India Services. Verma did not reply to text messages sent on his phone. 

Verma was part of a three-member SIT appointed by the Gujarat high court to probe the Ishrat Jahan case. He differed from the other two members and filed an affidavit in the court that the encounter could have been staged and also raised doubts over Ishrat being a terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.