Following request from CBI for assistance, Director General of Gujarat Police Amitabh Pathak has issued instructions to nab absconding cop PP Pandey, who is accused in the fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan.
Pathak issued official letters asking them to enhance vigilance at strategic points that include airports, railway stations and highway check posts. The 1982 batch police officer was declared absconder by the court as he went underground for almost two months. He, however, appeared in the special CBI court last month on a stretcher seeking anticipatory bail application. He also moved the High Court after his bail application was rejected by a lower court. As the High Court too rejected his bail application, he suddenly disappeared on August 6.
The senior cop was declared proclaimed absconder in June. The investigation agency named him accused in its first charge sheet that was filed in July. He was Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) based in Ahmedabad when Ishrat and three others were shot dead on June 15, 2004.