Ishrat Jahan fake encounter: Gujarat DGP asks state cops to trace Pandey
Gujarat DGP Amitabh Pathak has directed the state police to help the CBI trace absconding additional director of police PP Pandey, a key accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case.
Gujarat DGP Amitabh Pathak has directed the state police to help the CBI trace absconding additional director of police PP Pandey, a key accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case.
Pandey, who had gone underground after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Gujarat High Court and a non-bailable warrant issued by the CBI court, has approached the Supreme Court with anticipatory bail plea that will come up for hearing on August 12.
Subsequently, the CBI had sought the help of the state police to trace Pandey, who has been dodging the probe agency for the past three months. “A letter to all police commissioners and district SPs has been sent, directing them to trace P P Pandey,” Pathak said.
He added that the city and district police chiefs have been asked to increase vigil at strategic places, including airports, railway stations and entry and exit points of their respective areas of jurisdiction.
“Whatever help the CBI will ask for will be provided by the state police apparatus,” a senior official in the state home department said.
A 1979 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, PP Pandey was joint commissioner of police Ahmedabad crime branch, which had gunned down four persons, including Mumbra girl Ishrat Jahan in June 2004. The police claimed that the four persons were LeT associates and were on a mission to kill chief minister Narendra Modi.
Subsequent probes, however, revealed that the police allegedly killed the four persons in cold blood as they were in prior custody of the police. The CBI chargesheet filed in July this year stated that the encounter was fake and executed in a joint operation by the Intelligence Bureau and Gujarat police.
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