This Article is From Jun 13, 2013

Ishrat Jahan case: CBI seeks to declare Gujarat cop a proclaimed offender

Ishrat Jahan case: CBI seeks to declare Gujarat cop a proclaimed offender
Ahmedabad: The CBI, investigating the 2004 fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, has filed an application in the special court in Ahmedabad to declare absconding accused IPS officer PP Pandey as a 'proclaimed offender'.

The central agency filed an application before the special CBI court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) HS Khutwad on Tuesday and sought court's directions to declare Pandey, who is alluding arrest since last month, as a proclaimed offender under section 82 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The court is likely to pass an order on Thursday.

If he is declared a proclaimed offender, the investigating agency can seize his property.

On May 2, the special CBI court in Ahmedabad had issued arrest warrant against Pandey, who at present is Additional DGP (Crime), for failing to respond to the summons of the probe agency.

Meanwhile, Pandey had moved Supreme Court with a plea to quash the FIR and give him protection against the non-bailable warrant issued against him, which was rejected by the apex court on Tuesday with the liberty to approach High Court.

Pruthvipal P Pandey, a 1982-batch IPS officer, has been made accused in the fake encounter case for providing "so-called crucial intelligence inputs" to fellow policemen that Ishrat and three others were LeT operatives and were on a mission to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

He was the Joint Commissioner of Police of the city heading the crime branch 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.

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