SC allows tainted DGP to step down
NEW DELHI: Gujarat DGP PP Pandey, accused in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan, will step down from his post with the Supreme Court directing the state on Monday to revoke the notification that gave him a postretirement extension.
Former top cop from Maharashtra Julio F Ribero had challenged the extension .
He said the senior officer was still facing murder charges and was in a position to influence the witnesses in the case, most of them being police officials.
A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar gave the direction after being told that Pandey had expressed his willingness to relinquish the post forthwith.
State counsel, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta had urged the court to let Pandey be on the post till April 30, when his term ends. The plea was shot down by the court.
“But, his tenure has already ended. He retired long back,” the bench said.
It noted since Pandey offered his resignation, Gujarat must issue a notification immediately. It disposed of Ribero’s petition as infructuous.
In his letter dated April 1, addressed to state chief secretary, Pandey said the issue regarding his extension was “unnecessarily raised in the SC by certain disgruntled elements, apparently with an ulterior motive to bring disrepute to the state.”
Expressing his willingness to step down, Pandey said he took this decision to avoid causing embarrassment to the state.
The state handed over the letter to the bench as part of its affidavit in which it justified the extension order.
It said Pandey, then working as director of the anti-corruption bureau, was given additional charge of DGP and IG, Gujarat after his predecessor PC Thakur went on deputation to the Central government.
Pandey was to superannuate on January 30, 2017, but was given an extension due to the revival of the Patidar agitation.
Being a border state, the police had started a technology-based project for ensuring adequate surveillance and security for its citizens.
Also, a recruitment drive of 17,000 police personnel was midway and keeping such contingencies in mind Pandey was given six months extension.
Pandey was heading the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.