A special CBI court Wednesday discharged former Gujarat DGP P P Pandey from the 2004 case on the alleged fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others in which he was an accused. Special judge J K Pandya discharged Pandey on the ground that key witnesses had made contradictory statements and prior sanction had not been sought from the government to prosecute an officer. “It appears prima facie that during the course of further investigation by R R Verma and other police officers, in order to oblige them, either witnesses have been fabricated or their version have been changed from time to time,” said Judge Pandya. IPS (retired) officer R R Verma was chairman of Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Gujarat High Court to probe the case. The order stated, “It is pertinent to note that all these police officers were arrested after a period of nine years (of the encounter). The earlier investigation was also taken into consideration. In all, 20 persons were arraigned as accused..out of 20 persons, chargesheet is filed only against seven persons, including Pandey. What happened all of a sudden that after nine years, investigating officer found that some of the accused persons should be taken as prosecution witness, for the reason best known to him..” The order questioned that “whether the investigating officer took permission of concerned judicial officer for taking an accused as a prosecution witness”. “Whether the provisions of section 133 of Evidence Act were followed by the Investigating Officer? Whether the investigating officer was a judge to take a judicial decision which is conferred on judicial officers only?. “Who prompted the Investigating Officer after nine years to pardon some of the accused persons? This speaks volume,” the order stated. “Being high-rank police officers like joint police commissioner, there can’t be any malafide intention or ulterior motive on their part. It is pertinent to note that mere prima facie case is not sufficient. There must be strong prima facie case to frame the charge against accused persons,” the judgment running into over 100 pages stated. The CBI has alleged that Pandey visited Khodiar farm where Ishrat Jahan and others were kept under illegal detention prior to their encounter. He is alleged to have gone to the chamber of co-accused and former IPS officer D G Vanzara where the modality of lodging an FIR was discussed when a subordinate officer D H Goswami, a key witness, visited them and heard them talking. The discharge order stated that there was no strong evidence to prove these allegations. It said that there was no mention of Pandey’s gunman at Khodiar farm and “it is not believable that Pandey, being a senior officer, would visit his junior officer’s chamber for such meeting”. The court held that “the statement of D H Goswami is not believable". After going through evidence and material witnesses the judge noted, “.It cannot be said that there was a conspiracy of encounter in question. Prima facie, it should be established that there was conspiracy and pre-meeting of mind or any agreement act amongst the accused to give design to their act. Mere presence is not sufficient.” “Looking to the facts and circumstances of this case, it is evident that the story of presence of Pandey is fabricated. The fact remains that Pandey was not present when and where the encounter is alleged to have taken place,” the order added. The court noted that the information about Ishrat and three others’ link with Lashkar-e-Toiba as received by the Gujarat Police was based on “sound, solid and correct information”. Following the ruling, Pandey told reporters outside the court that “this order has brought relief for me and the entire Gujarat police”. A CBI officer said the agency would “study the judgment to challenge it in the High Court”. An IPS officer of the 1982 batch, Pandey was the most senior serving police officer arrested in the alleged fake encounter case and was behind bars for nearly 19 months. He was arrested on July 12, 2013 by the CBI after he showed up at a private hospital following issuance of a proclamation order against him. Granted bail on February 5, 2015, he was reinstated by the Gujarat government and promoted to the rank of DGP. He was made part-time police chief but had to resign following litigation. He was one of seven police personnel named as accused by the CBI. The others, D G Vanzara, G L Singhal, N K Amin, Tarun Barot and two policemen, are all out on bail. The CBI also named four Intelligence Bureau officers but is yet to get sanction for their prosecution. The CBI had alleged that Pandey, as Joint Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch, participated in the conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of 19-year-old Mumbra girl Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two alleged Pakistani nationals in 2004. In its chargesheet, the CBI claimed Ishrat and the three men were killed in a staged encounter. Opposing Pandey’s discharge from the case, the CBI told the court that there were witnesses who had corroborated the role of Pandey in the conspiracy and that he had met Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh before they were killed.
