In a respite to former DGP of Gujarat PP Pandey, a special CBI court on Wednesday discharged him in the alleged 2004 fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
Pandey and other Gujarat cops were accused in the case. The court discharged Pandey on the ground of no evidence related to kidnapping and murder of the four who allegedly came to Gujarat with a view to kill the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
When the encounter took place, Pandey was the chief of Ahmedabad Crime Branch. The Central Bureau of Investigation investigated the case and chargesheeted Pandey and others as accused in the alleged fake encounter case.
On June 15, 2004 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad by Gujarat cops.
According to the CBI court judge JK Pandya the witnesses' evidences were contradictory as they gave different evidences to different investigating agencies. He also maintained that as per the section 197 of the CRPC, the investigation officer didn’t take permission from the state government to prosecute Pandey despite him being a Government servant.
In 2013 first chargesheet was filed against seven cops including three Gujarat cadre IPS officers Pandey, DG Vanzara and Gl Singhal for kidnapping, murder and conspiracy in the case. The CBI had named four IB officials, including IB's special director Rajinder Kumar and officer MS Sinha, in supplementary charge sheet, which still awaits the Centre's sanction.
Pandey is currently on bail. The 1980-batch IPS was arrested in July 2013 by the CBI and spent nearly 19 months in jail. He was released on bail in February 2015 and subsequently reinstated in the state police as in-charge DGP.
The CBI had named four IB officials, including IB’s special director Rajinder Kumar and officer MS Sinha, in supplementary charge sheet, which still awaits the Centre’s sanction.