Day after P P Pandey’s exit, Geetha Johri takes over as new Gujarat DGP

Now, Pandey’s sudden ouster prompted the government to appoint Johri, who has become the first woman IPS officer to be the state police chief. Sources said that fresh decision is likely to be taken in coming days as four posts of DGPs are left vacant after Pandey’s retirement.

According to sources, “The government is playing safe by giving additional charge in the wake of a Supreme Court order (Prakash Singh Vs Union of India) that had recommended to give fixed terms, a minimum tenure of at least two years, after selection for the top post irrespective of superannuation. Johri retires in November this year. Had she been given the full charge, her term, according to the apex court’s ruling, would be extended at least for two years.”

The order for Johri’s appointment, issued by the home department, stated, “State government is pleased to superannuate and revoke the extension of P P Pandey…” The order, signed by joint secretary Nikhil Bhatt, also states that Johri, a 1982-batch IPS officer, currently posted as managing director, Gujarat Police Housing Corporation, Gandhinagar, “should also hold the additional charge of DGP”.

The government had another option of choosing DGP Pramod Kumar. According to sources, Additional DGP Shivanand Jha was also in the race for the top job, but Johri was chosen for “being the seniormost” officer.

Johri is also the first woman IPS officer of Gujarat cadre who is still remembered for raiding dreaded gangster Abdul Latif in Dariyapur area in 1990s at the peak of Latif’s life. She had caught Latif’s close aide, fugitive gangster Sharif Khan Pathan. However, controversy started around her while she was supervising the investigation into the encounter cases of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi (2005) and Tulsiram Prajapati (2006) by the order of the Supreme Court.

In 2010, the apex court had ordered CBI investigation into the case while making strong observation against Johri. The CBI investigation, two years later, implicated Johri for “causing disappearance of material evidence, bringing the investigating officer VL Solanki to probe in a particular manner to shield some senior police officers and then minister of state for home Amit Shah.” Initially, however, Johri was instrumental in revealing that Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauserbi were killed in a fake encounter, which led to the arrest of IPS officers D G Vanzara ((retired) and Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh M N of Rajasthan, among others.

The CBI charged her for conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence, among other charges. Johri moved discharge application before the special CBI court in Mumbai which is hearing Sohrabuddin case there. In 2015, the special court allowed her application and discharged her from the case.