Ishrat Jahan case: Special CBI court concludes hearing on ex-IPS officer's discharge plea, reserves order for 16 February

Ahmedabad: A special CBI court on Saturday concluded the hearing on a discharge application filed by former Gujarat director general of police PP Pandey in the Ishrat Jahan “fake” encounter case with Judge JK Pandya reserving the order for 16 February. Pandey, currently out on bail, had contended that the statements of two witnesses against him were contradictory and that none of the other 105 witnesses examined by the court had named him. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named him as an accused in its chargesheet, without obtaining the mandatory sanction from the Centre, Pandey’s lawyer told the court. [caption id=“attachment_2827868” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Ishrat Jahan. PTI[/caption] He also referred to Pandey’s elevation as the in-charge DGP (even when the case was pending against him) as one of the grounds for discharging his client from the case. Pandey had resigned in April, 2017 after his appointment as the in-charge DGP was challenged in the Supreme Court. The CBI had opposed his discharge plea, saying it had enough evidence to prove that he was part of the conspiracy to carry out the alleged fake encounter. Ishrat Jahan’s mother Shamima Kauser and Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai’s father Gopinath Pillai were made respondents by the court in the matter on their request. Both opposed Pandey’s application, saying if he was discharged, it would obstruct the investigation. Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Rana were killed by Ahmedabad crime branch officials in the alleged fake encounter on 15 June, 2004. Pandey was the head of the city crime branch then. The Gujarat police had claimed that Ishrat and the others were terrorists with links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).