The Gujarat government Friday issued a show-cause notice to IPS officers Satish Verma, Atul Karwal and H.P. Singh and Deputy Superintendent of Police Sukhdevsinh Jhala in connection with the 1993 Porbandar RDX landing case.
The notice has been issued for allegedly allowing Sattar Maulana, a key accused in the landing of the RDX explosives at Gosabara village near Porbandar, which was subsequently used to carry out the serial blasts in Mumbai later the same year.
The show-cause notice comes 17 years after the incident at a time when Inspector General of Police Satish Verma is now part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Ishrat Jahan fake shootout.
Verma had in May sought protection from the high court on the inquiry being initiated against him by the Gujarat government.
Verma, Karwal, Singh and Zala are facing allegations that they had let off Maulana when they were posted in Porbandar district in 1993.
A division bench of the Gujarat High Court comprising of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyaya and Justice J.B. Pardiwala had ordered the state government to act on the report submitted by the Additional Director General of Police (administration) Pramod Kumar regarding their roles.
Verma had approached the high court to review and recall its order, which could be used by the state government to act against him.
A former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator and a practicing lawyer of Gujarat High Court Yatin Oza had filed a public interest litigation in 2005 seeking action against the officers for actions detrimental to national security.
