Ishrat Jahan case: Former cops Vanzara, Amin discharged

A special CBI court in Ahmedabad on Thursday discharged former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

Vanzara and Amin had filed discharge applications in the court after the Gujarat government refused to grant sanctions to the CBI to prosecute the two former police officers.

Special CBI court judge J K Pandya said that since the government has not sanctioned their prosecution, their discharge pleas are allowed and proceedings against them will be dropped in the case.

Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government's sanction is necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The police had claimed they were terrorists and come to Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.