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| Accused in Ishrat Jahan case, ex-Gujarat DGP Pandey discharged by CBI court | | | Agencies
Aspecial CBI court in Ahmedabad today discharged former Gujarat DGP PP Pandey after he moved an application. Pandey was an accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. Earlier, the Gujarat government had refused to give sanction to initiate trial against him in the Ishrat Jahan case.
Moving his petition for discharge in the court, Pandey had argued that the witnesses' statements were contradictory and unreliable. The CBI court accepted the argument while it ordered to discharge Pandey from the charges.
Investigating agency CBI had opposed Pandey's discharge petition saying in a written response that there were eye-witnesses who corroborated his role in the conspiracy. It said that the witnesses gave details about how Pandey met the Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh, who were police's custody, before they were killed.
"The court has accepted my petition for discharge. This is a big relief for me. Justice may be delayed in the country but truth essentially comes out."
On the other hand, Shamshad Pathana, the prosecution counsel, said, "This is very disappointing for the victims who have been fighting for justice."
Pandey is currently out on bail in the case after spending 19 months in jail. He was the senior-most serving IPS officer when he was arrested in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case in 2013. He was released on bail in February 2015.
Pandey is the only accused to have been discharged from trial in Ishrat Jahan case. He retired from service last year. The CBI had chargesheeted Pandey along with retired police officers DG Vanzara, NK Amin and Tarun Barot, and IPS officer GL Singhal among others in connection with the case.
The CBI chargesheet said that the accused hatched a conspiracy to kidnap and murder of 19-year-old Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals in 2004. The CBI said that the four were killed in a staged encounter.
Besides the police officers of Gujarat, four IB officers, including former special director Rajinder Kumar, named in its chargesheet by the CBI. |
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