Special CBI court allows IPS Pandey, Singhal to travel abroad

Ahmedabad

A CBI court today allowed In-charge Gujarat DGP P P Pandey and IPS officer GL Singhal, both accused of Ishrat Jahan encounter case, to travel abroad.

Mr. Pandey had sought permission to visit UK, US, France and Canada for one month between May 20 and June 20 and requested the court to modify his bail condition which barred him from leaving India. In his application, Mr Pandey had sought relief on the ground that he wants to visit his son and his family in UK and also wants to visit US, Canada and France to complete his doctoral research.

Apart from Mr. Pandey, co-accused GL Singhal had also sought temporary modification of bail for a month to visit different universities in the USA for further studies of his daughter.

The CBI during last hearing on Friday had opposed Mr. Pandey’s plea saying his long absence would delay the trial of the case in which he was an accused on bail.
The designated CBI court today, however, allowed both the officers to travel abroad.

Mr. Pandey, along with IPS officers G L Singhal, N K Amin, retired IPS D G Vanzara and three other policemen, was chargesheeted in the case related to the alleged fake encounter of 19-year-old Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals in June 2004. The case is at present pending before a local court.

Mr. Pandey, a 1980 batch IPS, was arrested in July 2013 in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case and remained in jail for nearly 19 months till he was released in February, 2015 after getting bail from the CBI court. His passport was in the custody of the same court.

– DeshGujarat