Ishrat Jahan case: CBI counsel calls PP Pandey, Rambo

Senior IPS officer PP Pandey, an absconding accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, was compared to Hollywood character Rambo by the CBI counsel on Friday.

Additional solicitor-general Indira Jaising, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said so sarcastically while replying to the arguments offered by Pandey’s counsel before Justice H N Devani of Gujarat high court during the day.

Pandey’s counsel said the IPS officer had not absconded at all but had taken legal recourse as there was no other alternative. He further stated that he was being falsely implicated by the CBI despite not having played any role in the fake encounter. His client had just passed intelligence inputs to his subordinates.
“He (Pandey) actually acted as Rambo. Rambo or ironman should not be afraid of anything. If they are innocent, they should appear in court by obeying warrants issued against him,” said Jaising.

“Although Pandey is a senior IPS officer, nobody knows his whereabouts? Why is he not appearing in court. Such a senior officer’s duty is not only to enforce the rule of law but also obey the rule,” she pointed out.

“He is the mastermind behind the whole encounter. He was a conduit...he received inputs, passed it to his subordinates and arranged everything.... In fact, he was in total control of the operation,” Jaising further stated.

After hearing all sides, the judge fixed July 1 for giving her verdict on the plea.

The 1982-batch IPS officer, declared an absconder by the CBI court here on June 21, has claimed in his petition that he had merely passed on the intelligence inputs that two of the four people killed in the encounter were “terrorists” who had planned to kill chief minister Narendra Modi.

Pandey, as joint commissioner of police, was heading the crime branch when Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in a staged encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.