Ishrat encounter court sets aside summons issued to two IB officers

Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.

In a major relief to two Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers, accused in Ishrat Jahan encounter case, a special CBI (sessions) court Saturday set aside summons issued to them by a special CBI (magisterial) court. The court, while allowing the pleas of Rajeev Wankhede and Tushar Mittal, said that the magisterial court didn’t apply its mind while issuing the summons to the accused applicants under section 302, among other charges.

The special court ordered to set aside the magisterial court’s issuance of summons while upholding the arguments of the applicants that in the absence of prosecution, sanction under section 197 of the CrPC by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the court couldn’t have taken the cognizance of the chargesheet.

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In December, the magisterial judge D R Vyas issued summons to accused IB officers — ex-special director Rajinder Kumar, Rajeev Wankhede, Tushar Mittal and Mukul Sinha — taking cognizance of the chargesheet filed in 2014.

Following the order, Wankhede and Mittal moved review applications before the CBI sessions judge J K Pandya, challenging the summons mainly on the ground that since there is no sanction, summons couldn’t have been issued.