The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Gujarat government to accept state police chief PP Pandey’s resignation, reported PTI. The government had earlier extended Pandey’s tenure until April 30. Pandey is an accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and is currently out on bail.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the state, told the bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud that Pandey had offered to step down. The bench asked the state government to revoke the notification that extended his tenure from January 31 to April 30, reported The Times of India.
The top court was hearing a petition filed by former Mumbai police chief Julio Ribeiro. The petitioner had challenged the government’s decision to promote Pandey and grant him an extension. Ribeiro’s counsel Kapil Sibal had argued that Pandey’s alleged involvement in the murder case did not deter the government from reinstating and promoting him and then granting him a three-month extension.
Pandey was the head of the state crime branch when Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in an alleged encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The Gujarat Police had claimed that the four had terror links and were conspiring to kill Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat’s chief minister.
However, a special investigation team set up by the high court set up had found the encounter to be fake. After this, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Pandey was released on bail and returned to the force in February 2015. He was appointed director of the Anti Corruption Bureau. In April last year, Pandey was named Gujarat’s new director general of police.
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