IPS officer P.P Pandey gets anticipatory bail in Ishrat Jahan case

A court in Ahmedabad has granted anticipatory bail to P.P Pandey, a senior Gujarat police officer accused of murdering college student Ishrat Jahan.

P.P Pandey, who had been absconding for over two months, appeared in a CBI special court today, on a stretcher from the hospital where he was admitted on Sunday after complaining of chest pains.

According to reports, the Special CBI court has now asked Mr Pandey to appear before it on July 31 in connection with a non-bailabe arrest warrant issued against him.

The apex court on Friday had restrained the CBI from arresting the officer as decision on his appeal was still pending.

P.P Pandey was heading the Crime Branch in Ahmedabad when the 19-year-old was shot dead with three men on the outskirts of the city in 2004.

He was chargesheeted by the CBI, accusing him of being part of the conspiracy to eliminate Ishrat Jahan and three others. In its first chargesheet filed last month, the CBI listed Pandey as one of seven policemen who allegedly murdered her in what it described as a "staged encounter" committed "in cold blood."

The policemen have said in their defence that Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were involved in a sinister plot to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).