The Gujarat government on Saturday transferred the state's controversial Director General of Police P C Pande, who had come under cloud during the post-Godhra communal riots in 2002, apparently to preempt such a move by the Election Commission, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. S S Khandwawala, who belongs to the minority community, was appointed as the new DGP. Ahmedabad Police Commissioner O P Mathur has also been shifted and replaced by H K Saikia.
Singh, who had accused the then Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption, has alleged frame up in criminal cases.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the appointment of P C Pande as the Director General of Police of Gujarat. An NGO -- Citizens for Justice and Peace -- had in 2006 challenged the appointment of Pande as DGP, alleging that several complaints relating to post-Godhra riots were pending against him. However, a bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and V S Sirpurkar said the petition has become redundant.
The SC said the "messy state of affairs" has "the propensity of unnecessarily shaking confidence of people in police system".
The Supreme Court Monday allowed Mumbai Police to carry on the investigation against former police commissioner Param Bir Singh but restrained it from filing charge sheets on the first information report (FIRs) against him over the allegations of misconduct and corruption.
Former Gujarat minister Amit Shah, a close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was among 20 people named by the Central Bureau of Investigation in its charge sheet in the Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case for allegedly entering into criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
The meeting came after terrorists carried out a series of targeted killings in the Kashmir Valley that include non-Muslims, security personnel, an artist and local civilians.
'The talk in police circles is that Maria was about to crack the money transaction trail in the crime. The Mumbai police's Economic and Offences Wing had begun investigations into the money trail and Mumbai police officers had visited Singapore in this connection.'
Indrani exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up like a little girl's: "I know him soo0o well." Sanjeev Khanna, Accused No 2, jokingly suggested to Badami: "Influencing the witness!" Badami retorted good humouredly: "She can't influence witnesses. She can only influence you and Peter."
A group of retired civil servants also called upon the PM to reach out to the families of the victims in Unnao and Kathua and "seek their forgiveness on behalf of all of us".