Ishrat Jahan case: Pandey will quit immediately as DGP, Gujarat government tells Supreme Court

Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, said the state government would accept Pandey's offer to step down after the bench asked him to either make a statement that Pandey would go forthwith or they would pass an order.

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Ishrat Jahan case: Pandey will quit immediately as DGP, Gujarat government tells Supreme Court
DGP PP Pandey, accused in Ishrat Jahan case

In Short

  • Gujarat government to accept request of DGP PP Pandey to step down.
  • Pandey is one of the accused in killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
  • Pandey's tenure extension got challenged by a plea of Julio Francis Ribeiro.

The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the request of Director General of Police PP Pandey to step down will be accepted immediately.

Pandey wrote a letter expressing his willingness to step down forthwith if the state government so desired.

Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud were also told that the notification of three months' extension granted to him till April 30 too would be resolved.

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Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, said the state government would accept Pandey's offer to step down after the bench asked him to either make a statement that Pandey would go forthwith or they would pass an order.

Pandey is one of the accused in the killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others.

Initially asking the court to let Pandey complete his extended term till April 30 and retire gracefully, Mehta told the court that Pandey was in no position to influence the case as charges had not been framed.

Ishrat Jahan case

Ishrat Jahan, 19, was shot along with three men in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, by the crime branch of the Gujarat Police on the basis of inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau (IB). At that time, the Gujarat Police had claimed that all four people who had been shot were terrorists linked to the terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi. The three men who were shot dead along with Ishrat Jahan were identified as Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar.

Later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the High court to investigate the case had concluded that it was a fake encounter, following which the High Court transferred the case to CBI.

Pandey was heading the state crime branch at the time of encounter.After being released on bail, Pandey was taken back into service in February 2015 and appointed the Director of the state Anti Corruption Bureau.

On April 16 last year, Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat.

Recent controversy

In January this year, Pandey, who was to get retired on April, got an extension from the centre for three months, which then saw filing of a plea against his promotion and a three-month extension, by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Francis Ribeiro.

Senior advocate, Kapil Sibal appearing for the petitioner had said that Pandey was granted bail, reinstated, promoted and rewarded despite being an accused in a murder case. Following this, Pandey expressed his desire to quit his post.

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