Night before HC says yes to his plea for CBI probe, UP cop dies

Allahabad ASP (City) R P S Yadav said Pandey, who was part of the security deployment at the Ardh Kumbh Mela, was returning home in the official jeep when the accident took place. According to Yadav, Pandey, who was at the wheel, swerved to avoid a girl on the road and crashed into a wall. While Pandey died, two constables with him sustained minor injuries, Yadav said.

Allahabad DIG Gopal Lal Meena ruled out foul play. “Pandey died in a road accident. He had been given Y-security on government orders,” he said.

In his petition to the High Court, Pandey had said that the vigilance committee had registered a case against him and that his family was being harassed by the state government. “I want a CBI inquiry into the act, conduct and activities of officers deployed in Kunda when POTA was invoked against Raja Bhaiyya in 2003. I feel no state investigating agency can do justice to me because all these are under direct control of the state government which seems prejudiced against me in this case,” his petition stated.

Acting on the petition, a division Bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising Justice R C Deepak and G P Srivastava, ordered a CBI inquiry today, instructing that the probe be completed in five months and the report submitted to the court. As Circle Officer of Kunda in 2003, Pandey acted against Raja Bhaiyya and arrested his father Uday Pratap Singh. He later complained he was receiving threats.