Tulsi fake encounter case: CBI’s ex-ADG is accused No. 17

The case of former Gujarat director general of police (DGP), PC Pande, is unique. It is perhaps for the first time that a former additional director general (ADG) of the CBI has been named by the probe agency as a murder accused in a case.

Pande, who is accused of conspiracy and murder in the charge sheet filed in the Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case, was appointed as ADG in the CBI in February 2004. He was later shifted to another central agency before returning to Gujarat where he became the state DGP.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet in the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) in Danta, Banaskantha district. On Thursday, the Danta court allowed copies of the charge sheet to be given to the accused.

Sources said that the CBI was initially in a dilemma whether or not Pande should be named as an accused in the case as he had served in the probe agency in a very senior position. However, the evidence against him that came up during investigation of the Tulsi case was so overwhelming that the agency had no option but to charge him for serious offences, the sources added.

The CBI has stated in the charge sheet that Pande’s role in the Tulsi encounter began in the days when investigation into the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter was initiated. The probe agency has alleged that he shielded the police officers involved in the Sohrab case from a departmental probe.

The charge sheet further alleges that Pande wanted to ensure that the role of his ‘patron’, former minister Amit Shah, and IPS officers DG Vanzara, RK Pandian and Dinesh MN in the Sohrab encounter did not come to light. As Tulsi Prajapati was a witness to the abduction of Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kauserbi, he was killed, says the chargesheet. Sohrabuddin’s brother, Rubabuddin, had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India accusing the Gujarat and Rajasthan police of involvement in the disappearance of Kauserbi and his brother’s ‘murder’.

In response to the letter, the Apex Court wrote to the state government for a proper investigation into the encounter.

According to the Tulsi case charge sheet, the Apex Court’s letter was addressed to the then Gujarat DGP, PC Pande, who deliberately did not take any action for some time. In furtherance of a criminal conspiracy with his alleged patron and key accused Amit Shah, Pande allegedly directed inspector general of police (IGP) Geetha Johri to enquire (not investigate) into Rubabuddin’s allegations, the charge sheet says.

The CBI has noted that Pande had enjoyed the unstinted support of Shah. After his retirement he became the first retired IPS officer to be appointed chairman of Gujarat Police Housing Corporation.