Ahmedabad: A trial court in Ahmedabad on Monday will hear the plea of absconding senior Gujarat IPS officer PP Pandey seeking quashing of FIR aginst him in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The Supreme Court had on Friday had restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation from arresting the officer as decision on his appeal was still pending.
Pandey was chargesheeted by the CBI accusing him of being part of the conspiracy to eliminate Ishrat Jahan and three others. The CBI failed to trace him after Pandey went on a long leave. The agency then approached the court to declare him an absconder.
Pandey was Joint Commissioner of Police when on June 15, 2004 Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with the Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
A day before the encounter, Pandey, along with suspended IPS officer DG Vanzara and IB officer Rajinder Kumar allegedly planned details of how the killing will take place. As head of the Crime Branch that carried out the operation, Pandey allegedly directly supervised actions of Vanzara and others, and even directed how the first FIR must be filed before the encounter.
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