Ishrat Jahan case: CBI opposes Pandey plea to travel abroad

The CBI said, “The presence of accused applicant is required before this court during the framing of charge. Further, the applicant has not furnished the contact address and contact numbers of abroad, and the place/address where he would stay during the said period, the travel itinerary etc.”

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During the brief hearing, when the court observed that since filing of the application circumstances seems to have changed, the IPS official’s Lawyer Paresh Nayak said, “Pandey is now the in-charge DGP of Gujarat.” When Pandey moved the plea last month, he was posted as Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The court has reserved its order for Monday.

Pandey has sought to modify his bail condition which barred him from leaving India. In his application, Pandey sought relief on the ground that he wants to visit his son and his family, who are residents of the UK.

The other ground for traveling abroad mentioned by Pandey was for completion of his doctoral research. He is pursuing PhD from MS University, Vadodara, since 2009 on “The Changing Role and Dynamics of United Nations Peace Keeping Operations after Cold War.”

For this purpose, Pandey wants to “do some survey and research work and meet the head of Institute of Peace Research in Canada, and also the UN headquarters in New York and collect some information and guidance for the PhD for which he wants visas for UK, USA, France and Canada for two months from May 20 to June 20”.

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

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The CBI reply on Singhal’s plea is identical where the agency said that “considering the gravity of offence, the application of the present applicant accused to allow him to visit the US from 12th May 2016 to 15th June 2016, deserves to be rejected outrightly”.