NEW DELHI: Senior Gujarat police officers N K Amin and Tarun Barot, accused in encounter killings including that of 19-year-old student Ishrat Jahan, on Thursday gave an undertaking before the Supreme Court that they would resign. Later in the day, both officials resigned from their respective posts.
The reappointment of the two officers by the State government after their retirement had been challenged in court by a retired police officer, Rahul Sharma questioning their re-appointment despite serious charges imposed on them.
Sharma’s petition alleged that Amin has faced trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan encounter killings and has spent close to eight years in jail but he was immediately reinstated after his release. Barot was accused in the Sadiq Jaman and Ishrat Jahan killings, was accused in two cases of abduction and murder and spent close to three years in jail, said the petition.
Earlier this year, another top officer accused in the Ishrat Jahan case, PP Pandey, was forced to resign as the DGP. Amin was rehired on contract as SP of Tapi district while Barot was a DSP in the Railways.