Director of Anti Corruption Bureau P. P. Pandey has been given additional charge of Gujarat’s director general of police.
Pandey, an IPS officer of 1980 batch and accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, had earlier this month shared a stage with fellow accused former IPS officer D. G. Vanzara when the latter was given a rousing welcome at Gandhinagar Town Hall on occasion of his homecoming.
Vanzara, also an accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, was behind the bars for eight years and had one year in Mumbai following court conditions that barred his entry in Gujarat.
Pandey, who is out on bail in the fake encounter case, takes the additional charge from DGP P. C. Thakur. Following an unprecedented order, which came on the occasion of holiday – Ram Navami – on April 15, till his superannuation later this year, Thakur has been transferred to New Delhi as DG (fire services, home guard and civil defence).
Speculations are rife in the political and bureaucratic circles that Thakur was reportedly transferred due to his alleged mishandling of the Patidar agitation in the state that is refusing to die down even after one year. It is also believed that there were difference of opinion between him and other officers/bureaucrats over his style of functioning.
