Ahmedabad: A special CBI court here on Wednesday dropped the proceedings against three more accused police personnel in the controversial Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
With this now none of the seven accused police personnel of Gujarat faces charges/trial in the sensational case.
Special CBI court’s designated judge Vipul Raval today dropped the charges against ex-cops former IPS G L Singhal, retired DySP Tarun Barot and then ASI A Chaudhry. He was hearing their discharge pleas.
Almost four months after the CBI court here had dropped the proceedings against two other accused in May 2019, former IPS DG Vanzara and police officer NK Amin citing the refusal of permission by the Gujarat government to prosecute them, four other accused ex-police officials including the three- who got discharged today- had also approached the court with discharge petitions in August 2019. One of them former DySP KG Parmar had died during the course of hearing.
Earlier on May 2, 2019, the court of designated CBI Judge JK Pandya had dropped the proceedings against Vanzara and Amin as the state government has not granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute any of the seven accused police personnel.
This prosecution was required under Section 197 of the CrPC.
As per 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.
Former in-charge DGP of Gujarat, P P Pandey was discharged in the case in February 2018. 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 earlier on.
The 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan and three others including her boyfriend 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 GL Singhal.
They all were also arrested but released on bail later.
