Ahmedabad: A special CBI court today dropped the proceedings against former IPS D G Vanzara and police officer N K Amin in Ishrat Jahan case citing refusal of permission by the Gujarat government to prosecute them.

The court of designated CBI Judge J K Pandya who had earlier in August last year rejected the discharge pleas of both the accused officials in the case, today dropped the proceedings as the state government has not granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute them as required under Section 197 of the CrPC. They had filed a fresh discharge petition in the court after rejection of the earlier one. The court allowed the petition today. As per the section 197 of the CrPC the government’s sanction was necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for any action that was part of official duty.

During the hearing, the counsel of Ishrat’s mother Shamin Kaushar, Vrinda Grover had argued that Section 197 was not applicable in theie case that deals with abduction, confinement and murder, which were grave and heinous crimes falling outside the scope of official duty.

However, Vanzara’s counsel counter argued that the judicial findings of the case had established that there was no fake encounter on part of the police officers and the sanction for prosecution was declined after the State went through materials on record, examined the facts and circumstances of the case fully.

Earlier Former in-charge DGP of Gujarat, P P Pandey was discharged in the case in February last year. He had spent 19 months in jail before being let out on bail in February 2015. Vanzara and Amin had in their earlier petition sought discharge on the basis of parity with Pandey’s case but it was rejected. They were charged

19-year-old Ishrat Jahan and three others including her boy friend Pranayesh Pillai alias Javed Shaikh and two Pakistani nationals were gunned down by Gujarat police in June 2004 near Ahmedabad. The police claimed that they were Lashkar E Toiba (LeT) operatives planning to assassinate the then CM Narendra Modi. The case was later handed over to CBI which claimed that it was a fake encounter and in its first charge-sheet in 2013 it named seven Gujarat police officers including Vanzara, Pandey and one GL Singhal.

DeshGujarat