New Delhi, Sept. 26: Justice Jayant Patel, a senior high court judge who had ordered a CBI probe into the alleged fake encounter killing of teenager Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat, has abruptly resigned. A resignation once submitted by a judge to the President is deemed to have been accepted," Justice Patel told The Telegraph over the phone from Bangalore. Instead, Justice Patel, serving as the second senior-most judge in Karnataka High Court, was transferred to Allahabad High Court as its third senior-most judge. In 2011 while posted at Gujarat High Court, Justice Patel had ordered the CBI probe into the killing of Ishrat in 2004 on the prima facie conclusion that it did not appear to be a genuine encounter. Had the judge been elevated to the Supreme Court, he could have continued till 2021 as an apex court judge demits office at the age of 65 whereas a high court judge retires at 62.

Source: The Telegraph September 26, 2017 21:56 UTC