In a blow to the CBI, the special CBI court here on Wednesday discharged the former Gujarat Director-General of Police, P.C. Pande, from the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases for want of mandatory sanction.

Mr. Pande is the second accused discharged, after BJP chief Amit Shah. A discharge by the court means he will not stand trial.

Prajapati, an eyewitness to the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi, was allegedly eliminated by the Gujarat police in 2006.