A CBI special court on Thursday discharged former Gujarat police officers D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case as the state government had not sanctioned their prosecution.

Vanzara and Amin had filed discharge applications in the CBI special court after the Gujarat government refused to grant sanctions to the central agency. Special court judge J.K. Pandya said that since the government has not given its nod to prosecute the two, 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 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 had come to Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.