A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Saturday set aside summons issued to two Intelligence Bureau officers by a magistrate court in Ahmedabad in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan, PTI reported.

The lower court had issued summonses to Rajeev Wankhede and TS Mittal, and two other officers, who worked as assistant central intelligence officers when the alleged fake encounter took place in 2004. Wankhede and Mittal had challenged the orders against them.

The CBI has charged the officers with murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal detention and kidnapping. Wankhede and Mittal had told the court that the charges against them were not maintainable as the court had not taken cognisance of the CBI chargesheet.

The case

In June 2004, Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in an alleged encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Police had claimed that the four had links with terrorist groups and were conspiring to kill Narendra Modi, who was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time. However, a special investigation team set up by the Gujarat High Court said the encounter was fake. After this, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.