No proof, CBI lets off Gujarat ex-DGP

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, February 21

Former Gujarat incharge Director General of Police PP Pandey was today discharged in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case by a special CBI court for want of evidence. Disappointed by the verdict, the family members of Ishrat Jahan have decided to move the High Court.

Special CBI court judge JK Pandya allowed Pandey’s discharge application on the ground that there was no evidence against him related to kidnapping and murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others. The court stated that the witnesses in the case had given contrary evidences to different investigation agencies. It also pointed out that the investigating officer did not take permission from the state to prosecute and file chargesheet against Pandey, which is required as per Section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Pandey becomes the first accused in the case to be discharged. Pandey had spent 19 months in jail till February 2015 in the case. He was reinstated as ADGP (Law and Order) and later as DGP incharge of the state. He, however, was forced to resign as head of the state police in April, 2017, after his promotion was challenged in the Supreme Court by former top cop Julio Riberio.

Pandey was the head of the Crime Branch when 19-year-old Mumbai-based Ishrat Jahan along with three others — Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana — was killed in an encounter on June 15, 2004, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The police then had claimed that they had come to carry out terrorist activities in the state and assassinate then CM Narendra Modi. 

The CBI, which investigated the case had in its first chargesheet filed in 2013, accused seven police and IPS officers, including Pandey, DG Vanzara and GL Singhal, under charges of kidnapping, murder and conspiracy. The CBI had also named four IB officials, including Intelligence Bureau’s Special Director Rajinder Kumar and officer MS Sinha, in its supplementary chargesheet, which still awaits Centre’s sanction.

Pandey in his discharge application had claimed that none of the 105 witnesses examined by the court had named him and that he had no involvement in the case. Pandey said, “At times it appears that there is delay in delivery of justice in our country but eventually truth does come out. This is good for the Gujarat Police. It also shows that the courts are neutral and can take firm decisions.” 

The family of Ishrat Jahan has, however, decided to challenge the CBI court’s order in the High Court. “Definitely this is a disappointing verdict. The victims’ side would surely challenge the decision in the upper courts,” Shamshad Pathan, lawyer representing the next of kin of those killed in the encounter said.

Pandey Headed crime branch in 2004

• PP Pandey (pic) headed the Gujarat Police Crime Branch when 19-year-old Mumbai-based Ishrat Jahan along with three others was killed in an encounter on June 15, 2004, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad
• The police then had claimed that Ishrat and three others had come to carry out terrorist activities in the state and assassinate then Chief Minister Narendra Modi 
• The CBI, in its first chargesheet filed in 2013, accused seven police and IPS officers, including Pandey, DG Vanzara and GL Singhal, under charges of murder and conspiracy

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