SC quashes IPS officer's appeal in Ishrat case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Gujarat IPS officer P P Pandey seeking direction to quash a first information report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

A bench of Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Madan B Lokur also rejected his request to set aside an order issuing non-bailable warrant against him.

The court said that it was not inclined to entertain the plea while pointing out that Pandey had not approached the high court first.

In his writ petition, the 1982-batch IPS officer sought quashing of the FIR registered at the instance of the Gujarat High Court by the CBI.

Pandey was acting as joint commissioner of police when Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Gopinath Pillai, Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar were killed on June 15, 2004, by Gujarat Police allegedly in a fake encounter.

An Ahmedabad court on May 2 issued non-bailable arrest warrant against Pandey.