Senior IPS officer summoned

Johri and former Gujarat DGP allegedly tried to obfuscate probe

 The summons were issued to the two officers even as the CBI grilled former Gujarat MoS for Home Amit Shah inside the Sabarmati Central Jail for the second straight day on Thursday. Sources said Shah, who is a key accused in the sensational case, was not cooperating in investigation.

Johri, who was the investigating officer and headed the probe while she was with state CID in the fake encounter involving Sohrabuddin Sheikh and killing of his wife Kausarbi in 2005, was directed to appear before the agency by August 10.

Johri is currently posted as Rajkot Police Commissioner. She is in the UK  at present and is expected to return on August 6. The CBI has already questioned Johri twice before, after it began investigation into the encounter case following the Supreme court order.

The probe agency had on Wednesday summoned Pandey and asked him to appear before it on August 11. It is for the first time that Pandey has been called for questioning by CBI.

Pandey was the DGP when the state CID was probing the fake encounter case.
The apex court, while transferring the case to CBI, had minced no words in expressing displeasure at the failure of the state police’s Special Investigation Team, headed by Inspector General of Police Johri, to identify the seven Andhra Pradesh police personnel who assisted the local police in the fake encounter.

The Supreme Court had also come down heavily on the Gujarat police for failing to conduct impartial investigations and attempting to “mislead” the apex court by filing conflicting Action Taken Reports (ATRs) in the case.

It had further said that while one of the investigating officers V L Solanki was proceeding in the right direction, Johri had not been carrying out the investigation in the right manner.

The court had said in its January 12 order that Johri mentioning the criminal background of Sohrabbuddin and the discussion among the accused officers concerning Sohrabbuddin was meant to obfuscate the inquiry.