SIT begins probe into Vijay Shah's remarks on Sofiya Qureshi, visits Raikunda village

Indore, May 24 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court, is probing the controversial remarks made by Madhya Pradesh Tribal Welfare Minister Vijay Shah against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.

On Saturday, the three-member SIT visited Raikunda village near the Mhow region of Indore district, where the Minister had attended a public programme on May 12, where he made the controversial remark.

The team met the village sarpanch and secretary -- both organisers of the event -- who had earlier been summoned by the Manpur police, where the FIR in the case was registered.

The SIT is also expected to question others who participated in the programme, including former Minister Usha Thakur. The team has collected relevant documents, including video footage of the event and a list of attendees.

“We began our investigation on Thursday,” a SIT member confirmed on Saturday.

The SIT’s confirmation comes a day after Vijay Shah admitted that his remarks were a “linguistic mistake” and issued another public apology on Friday.

The FIR in the case has already been handed over to the SIT, according to a police official in Indore.

When asked about the timeline for questioning Minister Shah, SIT members declined to provide details.

The SIT was constituted on May 19 by Madhya Pradesh DGP Kailash Makwana in compliance with Supreme Court orders. It comprises IG Sagar Range Pramod Verma (2001 batch IPS), DIG SAF Kalyan Chakraborty (2010 batch), and Dindori SP Vahini Singh (2014 batch).

As per the court’s instructions, none of the members are native officers of Madhya Pradesh.

The Supreme Court had instructed the DGP to form an SIT of directly recruited IPS officers from outside the state. The court also directed that Minister Vijay Shah must fully cooperate with the investigation, while staying his arrest.

The top court strongly criticised the Madhya Pradesh government for its initial inaction, noting that it was the High Court that compelled the state to register the FIR and later intervene to amend the charges listed against the Minister.

The SIT has been directed to submit a status report on its findings. The matter is scheduled for the next hearing on May 28.

--IANS

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