Ishrat case: top cop Pandey in judicial custody

No stretcher, no maulvi, no priest — absconding Gujarat police officer PP Pandey’s three-month run from the law finally came to an end on Tuesday, with his surrender before a CBI court.

No stretcher, no maulvi, no priest — absconding Gujarat police officer PP Pandey’s three-month run from the law finally came to an end on Tuesday, with his surrender before a CBI court.

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Accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, additional director general of police Pandey is the highest ranking officer taken into custody in any fake encounter case so far.

In its plea for custody, the CBI said Pandey was a key conspirator who was constantly talking to IB official Rajinder Kumar and then state home minister Amit Shah. “His custodial interrogation is required to unravel the conspiracy behind the fake encounter in which four persons were done to death,” said a CBI official.

“Pandey had claimed that he received information from personal source about Ishrat and Javed coming to Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004 though his team had already taken them in custody on June 12,” said senior lawyer Mukul Sinha, who represents Javed’s family.

Pandey’s surrender came after the SC rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Monday. His last court appearance had created a stir.

Carried in on a stretcher, flanked by a maulvi and a priest, he had been eating chocolates throughout the proceedings to keep his sugar level up.

On Tuesday, he arrived in a private car. The court remanded him in judicial custody and posted the hearing of the CBI custody plea for Wednesday.