New Delhi: The Supreme Court today disposed off a petition filed by retired IPS officer and NGO activist Julio Ribeiro seeking removal of IPS officer PP Pandey from the post of DGP of Gujarat for his alleged involvement in Pakistan based terror group LET operative Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Pandey who is Gujarat police chief (Director General of Police) at present is on post-retirement extension. He has decided to step down discontinuing his extension till April 30 this year. The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud allowed Gujarat govt to accept the offer of Pandey to quit his post.

Ribeiro was represented by senior counsel Kapil Sibal in Supreme Court in this case.

Pandey, a senior IPS officer of the 1980 batch, was granted bail in the case by the court a day after IPS officer DG Vanzara got bail in the same case. Pandey, the senior most Gujarat cop ever arrested in any case, remained behind bars for almost 18 months, and was re-instated as the Gujarat ADGP by the state government on February 9. On April 16 last year, Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of the central government had granted the three-month extension to Pandey, who was to retire on January 31. Pandey has been awarded with the Presidential Medal in the year 2001.

The Gujarat High Court had on 3rd August last year rejected Ribeiro’s PIL challenging the appointment of Pandey as the state’s in-charge DGP.

Ribeiro had challenged Pandey’s appointment as he is an accused in the alleged fake encounter case of Lashkar operative Ishrat Jahan and three others including two Pakistanis, and is currently out on regular bail. In his PIL, Ribeiro had said that Pandey could hamper the investigation and influence witnesses in the terrorists encounter case.Ribeiro who has served as the DGP of Gujarat and Punjab is into activism after retirement. He has been in NGO called Public Concern for Governance Trust(PCGT) as Chairman. The Managing Committee of this NGO has Kumar Ketkar, Gulam Vahanvaty and others as members.Ribeiro stated in the PIL that Pandey’s authority and influence of his post will affect witnesses, many of whom are serving police officers under him.

The Gujarat government on the other hand argued that the PIL should not have been entertained here as it is a service matter. Pandey has only been given additional charge as he is the senior-most IPS officer and it is not a regular posting. The government had earlier stated in a written reply before the court that investigation in the Ishrat case was done by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and not state police, and such apprehension therefore bore no merit. The government had stated that Pandey was the most suitable IPS officer for the in-charge DGP’s post because of his seniority. Replying to the main contention of PIL about possibility of Pandey hampering the investigation against him by influencing the witnesses, the government had said no such thing has happened after he was made the in-charge DGP. The government had further told the court that nowhere in his bail condition it was mentioned that he cannot be given promotions or cannot be made in-charge DGP.

Pandey was jailed after then Congress-led UPA government arm CBI charge sheeted him along with other police officials under Narendra Modi led BJP government in Gujarat.

Police officers had time and again clearly described this investigation as political motivated.

Pandey is out on bail in the encounter case of Pakisan based terror organization Lashkar -e- Taiyaba operative Ishrat Jahan and three others including two Pakistanis. He had spent around 18 months in jail in the case which is at present is pending before a local court in Ahmedabad.

After being released on bail, he was taken back into service in February last year and was made the director of Anti-Corruption Bureau.

On April 16 last year, he took over as in-charge DGP of Gujarat following unexpected transfer of incumbent P C Thakur to Delhi.

Ishrat, a Lashkar e Taiyaba operative 19-year-old girl from Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillay, Amjadali Akabarali(Pakistan) Rana and Zeeshan Johar(Pakistan) were killed in an encounter on Ahmedabad outskirts on June 15, 2004 after central intelligence agency’s inputs based on intercepted phone records that they were coming to kill political leaders. Pandey was heading the state crime branch at that time.

Background:

45-page bail order issued on February 5, 2015 said the role, if any, played by Pandey in the fake encounter plot was “very limited” and he had “no role” in the abduction of two of the four persons killed in the fake encounter, Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh. The court order also says that he “has no chequered history.”

In 2013, after CBI sent a notice to Pandey asking him to appear for questioning, he had gone missing for three months and proceedings of proclamation were issued against him. The CBI charge against him is that he participated in a meeting in Vanzara’s office where the plot of the fake encounter was drawn up, that he had met the kidnapped persons in custody and that his personal gunman was involved in the killings.

The court doubted most of these claims. Pandey’s lawyer in fact told the court that according to protocol, it was “not believable or understandable” that Pandey, then a Joint Commissioner of Police, would attend a meeting in the chamber of his subordinate, DG Vanzara. “It appears that there is nothing on record to show that Pandey played any role prior to deceased Ishrat and Javed being allegedly abducted and kept at Khodiar Farm,” the court order says, adding it is revealed that Pandey did visit Khodiar farm.

“It is pertinent to note that the role alleged against Pandey is very limited and there is no overt act attributed to him,” the order says. Regarding his gunman, Mohanbhai NanjiBSE -1.59 % Menat, the court said Menat’s statement says that before reaching the scene of offence, he himself was not aware that encounter was to take place.

“Hence, when this witness, who was working as a gunman of Pandey was not aware regarding the encounter to take place, it can reasonably be assumed that not every police officer was aware regarding the same,” the court order says. The order further said that Pandey is an IPS Officer of 1980 batch and has been awarded with the Presidential Medal in the year 2001. “It gets revealed that this is the only case registered against Pandey and he does not bear chequered history,” the court order pointed out.

DeshGujarat