Satish Golcha appointed 26th Delhi Police Commissioner

Satish Golcha, a 1992-batch IPS officer who was appointed Delhi Police Commissioner on Thursday, was instrumental in dismantling a false narrative orchestrated by Pakistan’s ISI during the 2009 Shopian rape case in South Kashmir.

The case, which was initially framed as a sexual assault, was later found out to be a conspiracy created by separatists in connivance with others at the behest of their handlers across the border.

The 2009 case that ignited widespread protests in the Kashmir Valley was initially framed as the rape and murder of two women by security forces. Later, investigators found out that it was carefully orchestrated by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI to destabilise the region.

The narrative, which paralysed the region for 47 days, was dismantled by a dedicated 12-member team led by Golcha, who was posted as deputy inspector general in the CBI at that time.

On May 30, 2009, the bodies of two women were discovered in a stream in the Shopian district of South Kashmir, a day after they were reported missing from a family orchard.

The initial claims — amplified by protests and opposition political parties in Jammu and Kashmir— suggested they had been raped and drowned by security personnel. The resulting public outrage led to a complete shutdown of the valley besides the arrest of five policemen.

With the state’s Special Investigation Team failing to resolve the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was called in.

The team headed by Golcha took charge and was assisted by renowned forensic experts from AIIMS, including Dr T S Dogra and Dr Anupama Raina, to ensure a thorough and scientific investigation.

Despite immense public pressure and political interference, Golcha’s team pursued the truth and a critical turning point came when they took the courageous step of obtaining a magistrate’s order to exhume the bodies of the two women, more than 40 days after their burial.

The forensic analysis that followed was conclusive showing that the women had not been raped and the duo had died because of drowning.

The investigation also showed that the rape and murder narrative was entirely false and had been deliberately manufactured and the findings pointed to a conspiracy originating from across the border in Pakistan, suggesting the case was a tool used by elements of Pakistan’s ISI to fuel unrest and keep the region volatile.

Later, the CBI submitted a chargesheet in the case saying that the two women at the centre of the controversy were neither raped nor murdered, but died from drowning.

The CBI’s report also led to the filing of a chargesheet against 13 people —including doctors and lawyers—for fabricating evidence and deliberately misleading the investigation.

The CBI has also cleared five police officers, who were previously arrested and suspended in connection with the case, of any wrongdoing.

Besides the Shopian high profile case, Golcha has investigated Ruchika molestation and suicide case, Rizwanur Rahman murder case and 1984 anti-Sikh riots case among others during his tenure in the CBI.

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