Gujarat Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja on Tuesday said outgoing DGP PP Pandey decided to step down to spare the government from likely embarrassment due to an ongoing case against him in the Surpeme Court.
Pandey, a 1980-batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, is an accused in the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan. He is at present out on bail.
He was replaced by 1982-batch IPS officer Geetha Johri, who is the state’s first woman IPS officer. Johri had been at the centre of a controversy over her investigations into the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and the disappearance of his wife Kausar Bi.
She is currently serving as Managing Director of the Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation in Gandhinagar.
Speaking about Pandey’s resignation, Jadeja told reporters in Gandhinagar:
To save the government from getting into an embarrassing position due to the ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court, Pandey himself expressed his willingness to step down as the state’s DGP-in-charge two days back. The same was conveyed to the apex court today (Tuesday).
Johri’s Brush With Controversy
Johri was the supervisory officer of the Sohrabuddin encounter case in 2006-07 when the CID (crime) investigated the case following the apex court’s directive.
Later on, after the case was transferred to the CBI following a court order, the probe agency chargesheeted her for allegedly botching up the investigation. According to a report in The Indian Express, the CBI had also alleged:
Under her supervision, she projected that the third person abducted along with Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi was one Kalimuddin and not Tulsiram Prajapati.
Prajapati was allegedly an eyewitness in the Sohrabuddin case and was reportedly killed in a fake encounter in 2006.
Johri later moved to discharge the application filed before the special CBI court in Mumbai, which is hearing Sohrabuddin case. In 2015, the special court allowed her application and discharged her in the case.
(With inputs from ANI, IANS and The Indian Express)
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